Capital Region Farm to School Blog
With the first month of school behind us, school garden are looking beautiful and salad bar programs are feeding students healthy local food. October provides a delicious fall’s bounty. Winter squashes, potatoes and cabbages are great for soups and fall salads. This October, we celebrate Farm to School Month and all the amazing work everyone is doing in our region. Farm to School month is an opportunity for schools to come together and celebrate the Farm to School movement building across the country. This is always a great time to reflect on the work that we have done and look to the school year ahead of us on how we can bring more hands-on learning and local food access to students.
Pro-D Day Workshops
In our regional network, many teachers and partners are excited to support farm to school programs. Our movement and numbers have been growing in the last few years, and would like to thank everyone who has supported us. Due to requests from teachers, we are pleased to co-host Pro-D Day workshops throughout the 2017-2018 school
year. Firstly, on Friday, Oct 20th from 9am to 12pm Whole Foods and Farm to School BC will be hosting a Pro-D Day Workshop for teachers on South Vancouver Island. The morning workshop will be led by local nutritionist Jodi Holland, RD. Jodi will showcase some tips and tricks on how to prepare delicious healthy food for you and your students. The cooking demonstration will include examples and discussion of different food preservation techniques. The day will finish with an optional store tour provided by Whole Foods. If you want to attend the Pro-D Day workshop please register at HERE.
There is also an opportunity arising for the School Garden Pro-D Day workshop in February. The final details are being worked out but if you are interested in attending, please email Aaren Topley @capitalregion@nullfarmtoschoolbc.ca to be notified when registration becomes available or sign up for the Capital Region listserv to be the first to hear about it.
Harvest4Knowledge Project
The Capital Region Farm to School Hub is piloting a new program and granting process to bring native plant and traditional food knowledge into the minds, hearts and bellies of children and youth. This pilot project is funded through the Horner Foundation and is implemented in partnership with SD61 and Songhees Nations. Selected schools will receive funding to plant native plants, build medicine wheels, harvest traditional foods, and connect with elders and knowledge keepers from the Songhees Nation. This project will promote opportunities for students to eat traditional foods in their classrooms, lunch or breakfast programs.
Animator Reflection
It has only been a month I am seeing a stronger network than ever before, not only regionally but in each school. To support the long-term sustainability of any Farm to School program, a school team is required to work together to support their programs and shift their school’s food culture to make healthy local food an integral part of the school day. I have been delighted to talk to teachers who are building a team to support the operations of their school gardens and salad bar programs.
Keep up the amazing work!