 The goals of Bradford Elementary School's Farm-to-School grant were to increase students' exposure to local foods and educate our school community about the healthful benefits of eating locally. We have been very successful meeting both of these goals. Results of our post survey saw a 40% increase in the number of students who answered "Yes" when asked if they knew where their meals came from. The percentage of students who had visited a local farm increased from 13 percent to 67 percent and we documented 227 student sessions with our kitchen staff to prepare local food. The numbers demonstrate that not only were our students exposed to local foods but they had an opportunity to develop their skills in the preparation of these foods.
We also involved the whole-school community in events that included meeting our local food growers and tasting their locally grown foods. From March 2008 - November, 2008, we organized five whole school local food events and seven family pick-your-own events. All the events received an overwhelming positive response in our parent surveys in addition to a tremendous amount of support for their continuation after the grant has ended.
"I hope very sincerely that the local food connections will continue past the end of the grant. I especially hope the local harvest days will continue. They had a great turnout and were fun family events. Bradford needs these family friendly outdoor events." Parent Survey Quote
Local farmers also benefited from the events and one farmer sold two more CSA shares as a result of her participation. Over the summer and fall, families helped to pick 260+lbs of strawberries, 50+lbs of blueberries, bushels of apples and ears of corn by the dozen. Families were further encouraged to purchase additional produce for their own households to support the local farms. Our five local food events included a " Walk to School with Farmers" Kick-off Breakfast, a Harvest Celebration Meal and a final Localvoire Luncheon.
One challenge we encountered was scheduling the activities from the school end of things but working with busy farmer's schedules. Another challenge was completing our original outlined four-step process for involving both younger and older students in the farmer visits and food preparation experiences. This proved a little too complicated to tie into the predetermined curriculum and classroom schedules. We did have three successful farm field trips (one trip was cancelled due to weather) that fit in perfectly with our science and social studies curriculums.
We started with a trial group: the pairing of our kindergarteners and one fifth grade class. The kindergarteners had a great visit to a local sugaring operation and then made maple granola. They shared their experience with the fifth graders who then made maple pumpkin muffins for the Kick-off breakfast. Last year our second graders were able to plant pumpkins and this year as third graders they saw the full lifecycle completed when they met the farmer and learned about how these pumpkins were sold and delivered through the Northeast as part of a new economics unit. In addition as part of the same economic unit on products and services, they met with a local dairy farmer and learned how milk is processed and sold in our region. Our fourth graders visited this same local dairy farm to gain an appreciation and first hand experience as how dairy products are produced. Later, they made ice cream and did an inquiry science experiment about the essential part that calcium plays in bone strength.
Looking back, our food manager did an outstanding job of involving students of varying ages and abilities with assisting the kitchen staff in making a variety of local dishes These included maple granola, applesauce, pumpkin muffins, ice cream and apple cider.
Overall, the program was a great success and will live on past the grant. Our new equipment will allow us to process and store more local foods. We will maintain our strong relationships with local farmers, allowing for continued local farm field trips and local food purchasing. We will continue to interweave curriculum with local agricultural efforts to give students a direct connection with the land. Our fun tradition of school community pick-your-own events will supply our cafeteria with popular local lunch foods that are fresh, nutritious and a hit with the students.
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