Introduction

First of all, I would like to welcome Kay Bingham Elementary, Kamloops School of the Arts, and Raft River officially to the Kamloops Hub! Schools’ project plans are in, and I am so excited to see more garden boxes being built (some even as part of an outdoor stage), irrigation being installed, and several microgreens programs starting up. We have also expanded the region to include SD83, with satellite schools in Falkland and Salmon Arm. Thanks to their Farm to School grant, Salmon Arm will be visiting a farm, and Falkland Elementary will be building a greenhouse. What a great way to bring local food into the school and school out to the farm.

As the weather warms up and the snow is finally melting, we are heading outside! Here in Kamloops, the farmers’ market starts on Saturday, April 21. Visiting the Wednesday market between 8am-2pm is a great opportunity for a field trip. They are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year!

Spring Celebration

We hosted our Spring Celebration here in Kamloops on Wednesday, April 17. It will be a different format from the previous two years, as we will host a session to brainstorm how we can get more local food into schools. Each school brought teachers, several students, and administrators. We know that schools cannot run programs in isolation, so we have invited local chefs, farmers, and grocery store owners to join us.

In May after the nominations are in, we will present our first annual Pollinator Award; this award will be presented to the school that has significantly shared their resources and learning with other schools.

Regional News

Pro-D Day: On April 23, we are partnering with Interior Health and the SD73 Health Promoting Schools program to offer a Pro-D Day with both a morning and afternoon workshop. Sign up online today! We will be launching our Cooking in the Classroom lesson plans, which covers a wide range of topics including baking muffins, preparing a small salad bar, how to compost, dehydrating fruit leather, and much more.

Gleaned apples being peeled and cored at school, preparing to make applesauce.

F2SBC at the Farmers’ Market: New this year, schools in the Farm to School program will be able to sign up to sell at the Farmers’ Market on Saturdays. F2SBC will be registered as a vendor, and schools will sign up to attend on days they are available. Schools will be able to sell their school-grown products, share stories about their program, meet local farmers, and buy products from them. If you are interested in this, please get in touch with Addie.

Making garden boxes at Brock Middle School, which are then sold to parents, teachers, and perhaps at the Kamloops Farmers’ Market.

SD73 Trustee Presentation: On May 7, Richard and Addie will be presenting to the board of trustees on to share with them about all of the amazing programs that have been started in our district. We would like to share the successes of our schools, and build on them to spread to more schools in the future!

Seedy Saturday: At the Seedy Saturday in March, we had a booth to share some stories about how schools in Kamloops are building the farm to school movement. Along with story sharing, children were able to make seed bombs! It was a lot of fun, and we hope to see you next year.

Animator Reflection

For the last year or so, I feel that Kamloops has been on a brink of a flood of activity. More and more people have heard of or are involved with Farm to School, and projects in schools are gaining a lot of momentum. This momentum spreads to other schools, allowing them to “stand on the shoulders of giants” and share their knowledge, so that other schools can learn from each other and build from each other successes . The teachers in the Kamloops Farm to School Hub astound me with collaboration and ability to grow together, it is amazing to be a part of the movement.

We have a large turnout of farmers and chefs expected at our Spring Celebration event. This interest comes from years of Farm to School programs spreading and building to a place when schools can be a significant customer of local food. People want to be a part of that movement of teaching students to grow and eat well. Bringing all of these parties together at the Celebration will be transformative, and I cannot wait to see the solutions we come up with!

As always, I can be reached at kamloopsregion@nullfarmtoschoolbc.ca or 250-571-0202.