September 22, 2022

This Week in Farm to School 

Farm to school connects local agriculture, schools, and partners to benefit students, educators, farmers, families, and communities.

NC Crunch Countdown!

Do you see your county represented?

Help us achieve our 2022 goal to reach 500,000 participants across ALL 100 North Carolina Counties!

NC Crunch events offer youth and adults an opportunity to taste and learn about locally-grown NC produce as well as honor our #NCFarmtoSchoolHeroes!

Register below for a free guide with tips, templates, and links to resources.

Register here.

White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health

September 28, 2022 

The Biden-Harris Administration will host the historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. The conference will bring together Americans from all walks of life to help accelerate progress to end hunger, improve nutrition and physical activity, and reduce disparities.

Learn more here.

Meal Talk: Taste-Test Events

October 12, 2022 // 3 pm ET 

In honor of National School Lunch Week, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Team Nutrition Initiative will present a Meal Talk webinar on taste-test events. Team Nutrition staff and guest speakers from the Pennridge School District in Pennsylvania and Kern County Superintendent of Schools in California will share tools, tips, strategies, success stories, and best practices related to hosting taste-test events with elementary and secondary school students. 

Register here.

Community Garden Leadership Academy

October 29th and November 5th // 9 am - 3 pm ET

Join North Carolina A&T University for a FREE two day intensive training for community garden leaders. This training will cover the community building skills and horticultural knowledge needed to start and sustain a community garden. Lunch will be provided.

Register here.

Exploring the Flavors of Your Community

Our communities are made up of individuals from a diverse array of cultural backgrounds. One way to explore different cultural heritages is for students to learn about the traditional foods, culinary practices, and celebrations of their classmates and neighbors. In this lesson created by KidsGardening, students will conduct interviews to explore the flavors of their community.

Learn more here.

Get the Facts About Food Safety

This fact sheet, produced by the USDA Farm to School Program, provides important information and resources for safely incorporating local food into school food programs.

Learn more here.

Cultivating Resilience Podcast

A new podcast called Cultivating Resilience produced by the Northeast regional center of the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network (FRSAN) features farmers sharing their stories and experts sharing resources. On the podcast, they discuss the specific stresses that farmers face—things like family farm succession, economic burdens, and rural isolation.

Learn more here.

Budding Botanist Grant 

Deadline: October 14, 2022

The Klorane Botanical Foundation is committed to supporting programs that teach respect for the environment and protect nature through the preservation of plant species and biodiversity. Designed to further their mission, the Budding Botanist Grant will help students learn about plants, explore their world and inspire them to take care of the life they discover in their local ecosystems. In late 2022, twenty high-need schools across the United States will be awarded $1,000 in grant funding to support their youth garden programs. 

Learn more and apply here.

Whole Kids Foundation Bee Grant

Deadline: October 15, 2022

The Whole Kids Foundation is offering two grants to support establishing or growing bee programs. The Traditional Bee Grant allows for K-12 schools or non-profit organizations that serve any grades K-12 to start a new or enhance an existing bee program hosting live bees on their campus. The traditional track is for new applicants only. The Renewal Bee Grant allows for K-12 schools or non-profit organizations that have previously received a Bee Grant to receive support to grow their programs. The renewal is for previous Bee Grant recipients only. 

Learn more here.

Household Meal Applications

The North Carolina Alliance for Health’s new blog series, For What It's Worth, attempts to break down the intricacies and confusion around school meals and hopefully shed light on the “worth” of school meals. This week’s blog post explores Community Eligibility Provision!

Learn more here.

2022 Questions for Candidates: A Voter’s Guide to Questions on Farm & Food Policy in the Carolinas

The Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (CFSA) works with policymakers and communities across the Carolinas to educate people on sustainable, local, and organic food and farming issues. CFSA also works with advocates across the Carolinas to prepare them to make an impact when they talk about the importance of sustainable farming and community food systems to policymakers. The 2022 Questions for Candidates equips you with questions you can ask candidates for elected office. This guide was developed to give candidates enough information to support them in thinking about and engaging with food, farming, food security, community gardening, and the environment. 

Learn more here.

BIPOC in Agriculture and Food: A Resource Guide

This is an open source database of Black and Indigenous people of color in agriculture and food spaces across the country. This resource guide was crafted by a collaborative effort outside of the Farm to School Coalition of NC.

View here.

Indigenous Justice for Environmental Movements: A Tool for Aligning Environmental Work with Indigenous Organizing

This tool, developed by the Catalyst Project, helps non-Indigenous organizers and organizations doing climate or environmental organizing to align their work with Indigenous sovereignty.

Learn more here.