Summary:

The Hartland Elementary School Farm to School Program (HES FTS) has deep roots in the local agricultural community.  In 2007 HES was the recipient of a VT Agency of Agriculture FTS grant, which provided funds to hire a coordinator (Peter Allison), purchase local foods, supplies and pay for field trips.  After the grant period expired the Hartland School board appropriated funds to continue and expand the program for the remainder of the 2007-2008 school year and the subsequent two years (2008-2009, 2009-2010).

The school board did not put FTS in the general fund budget submitted to Town Meeting for the 2010-2011 year as there were major budget cuts and there was the hope that outside funds would support the program.  The FTS program has been successful in raising funds through salsa sales, and the Hartland Farm Fest, which will help cover some expenses. However, as of the time of this writing, there are no specified funds to support FTS program coordination.

Background

Hartland, Vermont has a rich agricultural tradition, and many viable small farms remain in the community today.  The school community includes many teachers and parents who are knowledgeable and passionate about farming, and who have made efforts over the years to integrate farming concepts, experiences — and fresh food — into the school.

In 2007, The Hartland Elementary School (HES) was one of 14 schools in Vermont to receive a Farm to School (FTS) grant from the VT Agency of Agriculture. Subsequent funds have been raised through the School Board allocations and local fundraising efforts.

The HES FTS program is organized around monthly agricultural themes, including:

Maple Syrup; Extending the Growing Season; Seed Starting; Fall Harvest; Tomatoes and Salsa; Apples; Dairy; Root Vegetables, Grains and Cereals.

Each month, there are a series of activities conducted that relate to the monthly theme, including:

• Lunch in cafeteria, snacks or tastings offered made with local
• Displays in central foyer in school
• Field trips to area farms
• Classroom activities and visits by farmers

The FTS program communicates efforts through regular submissions to the HES newsletter, updates on the website – www.hartlandfarm2school.org, and presentations to staff, administration and the school board.
Program Highlights:

Hoop house and Garden Construction: The 8^th grade Design Construction class constructed a hoop house on school grounds to use for seed starting, as part of the Extending the Growing Season theme.  In addition, the FTS program has purchased and installed two raised beds made of recycled plastic, and helped to improve other beds around school grounds.

Support School Lunch Program:  The FTS grant helped to support purchases of local foods including eggs, whole wheat, maple syrup, corn and berries.  In 2009, the school bought a CSA share from Cedar Mountain Farm – the food service manager was able to buy down the share with orders of carrots, potatoes, onions, cabbage, squash, and leafy greens.

Farm to School Day:  HES held its third annual Farm to School Day, in which nine area farmers or specialists came to the school and held classes on their topic.   Each class in the K – 4^th grades visited each presenter, most of whom had animals to show and tell about (piglets, lambs, chickens, dairy calf, water buffalo calf), and food samples to share.

Salsa! With tomato starts donated by the Women’s Correctional Facility in Windsor, we grew hundreds of tomato plants over the summer at a local farm. We purchased and received local donations of garlic, cilantro, onions, and peppers. Many community volunteers came to the school to make salsa one afternoon.  A 6th grade student designed the label for the container.  Salsa sales grossed $400.  The Spanish teacher worked with FTS to make salsa in her K-5 classes and discuss the role of salsa in Spanish cultures.

Apples: We bought 15 bushels of apples (drops) from Wellwood Orchard in Springfield for $60.  We used all 2500 apples in making apples sauce, pies and giving out apples for snacks during Halloween week, as an interactive part of our apple display.

Vermont Resources Research Project: The 4^th grade classes integrated Farm to School into their Vermont Resources curriculum. Teams of 4 students researched a VT Resource (dairy, chickens, maple syrup, honey, pumpkins, apples, and farmers markets and farm stands). They visited a local farm and met with individuals involved with these resources, and produced displays on their topics. Students also prepared and served food samples related to the resources to share with other students.

Sugarhouse visits: All Kindergarten, 1^st grade and 2^nd grade students visited sugarhouses on field trips, where they were able to see a variety of techniques and taste maple syrup.

Intensive Farm Visits:  In 2009-2010, the HES 3^rd grade students made monthly visits to a local farm (Cedar Mountain Farm) to experience the farm through the seasons. The students have been involved in harvesting vegetables, bedding cows, planting potatoes  – and brushing cows and horses, extracting honey and learning about bees, and spending time with piglets, chickens, lambs and experiencing the heat and condensation in the greenhouse during cold months.  Students planted a large garden area that will grow 13 kinds of beans, popcorn and two other corns for making corn meal, heirloom squash and basil starts.  Next year’s 3^rd grade will harvest these crops for lessons and school lunch in the fall of 2010.

The third grade curriculum themes of local history, lifecycle of plants and simple machines ties in directly with the farm visits.  There is the opportunity to extend the learning in future years through journaling and other off-farm lessons.

Cereal: All 4,5 and 6^th grade classes made their own cereals with grains and fruit, designed and created cereal boxes that noted the ingredients and nutritional information.  The cereals were served at school lunch.

Hartland Farm Fest:  For the last three years, the FTS program teamed up with local farmers and community organizers to put on a town-wide celebration of local farms, art and economy.  The event has grown in attendance each year, from 150 to 400 to 500 attendees and with more and varied farmers and producers showing their products.  Special invited guests have included Secretary of Agriculture, Roger Allbee in 2008 and 2010, Senator Bernie Sanders in 2009 and Senator Patrick Leahy in 2010.  The event included a celebration of a local farm’s 100^th anniversary (2008), twine cutting of a new community garden (2009) and introduction of a new farmers market on the library grounds (2010).   Each year the event has also featured children’s art, stories from old timers, wonderful locally produced food and music.

The event has also grown in revenue for the FTS program (from $500 to $1200 to $2000).  The Hartland Farm Fest manifests the community connections that the Farm to School program is helping to foster, and to promote the value of local agriculture and food, during these times of food shortage, high food costs, childhood obesity and other related societal challenges.

Results and Recognition

The FTS program has generated very favorable feedback from students, teachers, parents and the agricultural community members who have participated in our programs.  It is clear that students are gaining a better understanding of he important role that local agriculture has played, and can continue to play, in Hartland’s community and economy.  They have also learned more about the environmental and nutritional benefits of eating sustainably grown and locally produced foods.

• In 2008, the HES FTS program was one of 25 programs in the nation to win the national Victory Against Hunger award, and received $1000 cash prize.
• In 2009, the HES FTS program was identified as one of ten in Vermont to be evaluated as part of a Center for Disease Control project examining the role of Farm to School in helping childhood nutrition.
• In 2010, HES was one of six schools in Vermont selected to send of FTS team to the Vermont Farm to School Workshop – Hartland sent 10 people who spent three and a half days planning efforts for the coming year.

Looking Forward:

The HES FTS Team that participated in the Vermont FTS Workshop at Shelburne Farms in June made a great start on defining a mission statement and outlining goals and objectives for the coming year.

Mission Statement:  The Hartland Farm to School program works to promote healthy students, lifelong learning and a vital agricultural economy by integrating local food and farms into the classroom, cafeteria and community.

Farm to School Committee: The Farm to School program at HES has used various means to solicit input, make decisions and communicate efforts in the past.  At first, there was a grant committee that met monthly with representatives from staff, teachers and community members.  Over time, the committee met less frequently as finding time in the school day was complicated.  In 2009, the school Wellness Committee was revitalized and the FTS program used it as a sounding board.

The first directive of the FTS Team at the summer workshop was to establish a formal FTS committee with regular monthly meeting times.  The committee will include representatives from food service, classroom teachers, Wellness committee, parents and community members.  The committee will have six subcommittees representing the major goals of the program:

1. 1. Purchasing local food for school lunch. While the school lunch program has used local foods (as noted above) on a sporadic basis, the goal is to increase that usage.  The school is purchasing a new salad bar, which will enable local fresh vegetables to be offered on a more regular basis.
2. 2. Relocate and expand school gardens. Currently the school gardens are located in various places around the school.  The intention will be to bring them to a central location to expand their use, visibility and production.  A major goal is to use the gardens as a major teaching tool.
3. 3. Integrate FTS issues into the curriculum. Two specific actions for 2009-2010 are:  Conduct a Farm Day in the fall; and develop at least one curricular unit for each looping grade unit (Kindergarten, 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 grades).
4. Communication. We need to provide regular communication to students, teachers, parents and the community about our programs. Specific communication strategies include: Note local foods on school menu; Rename the cafeteria, Sunflower Café – with food art around cafeteria; and Make sure that www.hartlandfarm2school.org is known and read.
5. 5. Fundraising. We have resources in the FTS account from fundraising efforts to support some local food purchases, field trips and supplies. However we need to raise funds to support the HES FTS coordination expenses.  Fundraising efforts to include: Salsa sales, Seed packet sales, Hartland Farm Fest.