Farm-to-School

Vermont schools increase local food use and nutrition education in Vermont schools. Ferrisburgh Central School joined forces with Vergennes Union High School’s Walden Project alternative program

to apply for a Farm-to-School grant, and was one of 12 schools to

receive a grant award on January 1st, 2007, out of the 63 schools that applied.

Using grant funds, Ferrisburgh Central School and the Walden Project are expanding their efforts to bring local produce and relationships with local farmers into their school communities in 2007. They have done this in a number of ways:

-- Bought locally produced plants and seeds for the Walden Community Garden and the Ferrisburgh School garden;

--Purchased "preserving-the-harvest" equipment for the Walden Community Garden, including a dehydrator, pressure canner and commercial-quailty food processor;

--Purchased a wide variety of local foods for both school lunch programs, and created high-quality meals with these ingredients;

--Developed "Fresh Foods" curriculum for all grade levels;

--Created mentoring relationships between Vergennes Union High School/Walden Project students and Ferrisburgh 3rd graders to study local farmers;

--Coordinated 19 visits to local farms for both individual mentor-student pairs and an entire 4th grade class;

--Held a June 1st "Local Producers Fair" to showcase the learning of the mentoring pairs (which was attended by WCAX-TV and numerous local newspapers);

--Offered an inservice training on "how to visit a farm with students" to Ferrisburgh Central School teachers in August 2007;

--Sponsored Ferrisburgh's Kindergarten teacher to attend UVM's Master Gardener Class in Spring 2007;

--Trained a Walden Project teacher in beekeeping;

--and much more!

The head of Ferrisburgh Food Service, a team of Ferrisburgh teachers, and teachers and staff of the Walden Project and the Willowell Foundation collaborated to develop this program and will continue to work together to implement the project during the rest of the grant year.

The project will continue to expand and grow throughout the remainder of the grant cycle, which ends in December 2007. We expect to continue implementing curriculum and farm visits, in addition to purchasing more local food, far beyond the grant cycle.

Farm and Garden