Schools Selected for Georgia Grown Test Kitchen Initiative

Courtesy Department Press Office

Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Gary W. Black recently announced the 10 schools selected to participate in the Department’s new Georgia Grown Test Kitchen initiative.

 

This year’s participants are Union County High School, Lincoln County Middle and High School, Dacula High School in Gwinnett County, Alpharetta High School in Fulton County, McClure Middle School in Cobb County, Carrollton Junior High in Carroll County, Hutto Middle School in Decatur County, Hartwell Elementary in Hart County, Bleckley County Elementary and  East Jackson Elementary in Jackson County. This new program will promote local and healthy eating in schools across the state through supplying school nutrition directors with healthy recipes using Georgia Grown commodities. 

The Georgia Grown Test Kitchen, along with the Feed My School for a Week Program, will help bridge the gap in the nutritional value and quality of food served in Georgia schools, while providing more farm to cafeteria opportunities. The end result will be healthier Georgia students, decreased barriers in farm to school efforts and increased awareness as students learn and experience, both educationally and nutritionally, where their food comes from.

“Through programs such as the Georgia Grown Test Kitchen and Feed My School for a Week, we are influencing the buying habits of nutritional directors across the state,” Black said. “We are showing the ease that comes with purchasing local products for school systems, while improving the nutritional value for students. We look forward to working with these schools this year to promote local and healthy eating in school systems throughout the state.”

 

The Department will supply the 10 schools with recipes using Georgia Grown commodities. These recipes will contain information on how to source the products used and nutritional information. In turn, the schools will provide feedback on the given recipes. The selected schools will also participate in other Georgia Grown activities throughout the year.

Applications Open for Feed My School for a Week

Courtesy Department press office

Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Gary W. Black announced this month that the Department is now accepting new applications for school districts interested in participating in this year’s Feed My School for a Week program.

Feed My School first launched in 2011 with a goal to help bridge the gap in the nutritional value and quality of food served in Georgia schools, while providing more farm-to-cafeteria opportunities. The end result will be healthier Georgia students, decreased barriers in farm-to-school efforts and increased awareness as students learn and experience, both educationally and nutritionally, where their food comes from. This will be the third year of the program.

“Not only does Feed My School for a Week allow students to learn about where their food comes from, but also how it is grown here in Georgia and the process of how it ends up on your plate,” Black said. “It is about offering fresh, healthy Georgia-grown foods that are locally produced while raising awareness about nutrition.”

In addition to new school systems participating in the program this year, the Department plans to continue working with previous participants for the next three years. During this time, last year’s participating counties will continue building their farm-to-school approaches, illustrating sustainable farm to cafeteria efforts while continuing to identify needs and best practices.

 

Previous schools include Norman Park Elementary in Colquitt County, Wauka Mountain Multiple Intelligences Academy in Hall County, Bleckley County Elementary in Bleckley County, Southside Elementary in Grady County, West Chatham Elementary in Chatham County, Skyview Elementary in Bibb County, Sharon Elementary in Forsyth County and ColbertElementary in Madison County.

Applications will be due on April 3, 2014. If you are interested in nominating your school for the program, please have your nutritional director contact Misty Friedman.

Georgia Department of Agriculture Awarded Farm to School Grant

Courtesy United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service

 

The United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service announced this morning that the Georgia Department of Agriculture will receive a $100,000 Fiscal Year 2014 Farm to School Service Support Grant.

 

Hundreds of applicants across the country competed for a limited amount of funding. The overwhelming interest in this round of USDA Farm to School grants was exciting, but also made the selection process extremely difficult. The Department's application stood out among so many others because it demonstrated strong experience and readiness to conduct farm-to-school initiatives; showed that Department leaders are thinking critically about opportunities and challenges; outlined goals closely aligned with USDA's; proposed a reasonable scope and budget; and gave USDA staff confidence that the farm-to-school program will be implemented with or without continued federal support.

 

The grant funding period is Dec. 1, 2013, through Nov. 30, 2015. The Department is one of 71 projects in 42 states and the District of Columbia to receive support through this program, which is an effort to better connect school cafeterias and students with local farmers and ranchers.

 

"In rural and urban communities across the country, farm-to-school is teaching students where food comes from and how it gets to their plate, and encouraging them to make healthier food choices in the cafeteria and at home," US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said. "Farm-to-school programs are an investment in the health of our nation's children and in the vibrancy of rural economies."

 

In 2010, the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act was amended to establish a Farm to School Program to assist eligible entities, through grants and technical assistance, in implementing farm-to-school programs that improve access to local foods in eligible schools. The Support Service Grant provides funding for school districts or schools just starting to incorporate farm-to-school program elements into their operations.

 

The grants help schools respond to the growing demand for locally sourced foods and increase market opportunities for producers and food businesses, including food processors, manufacturers and distributors. Grants will also be used to support agriculture and nutrition education efforts such as school gardens, field trips to local farms and cooking classes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sharon Elementary Kicks Off "Feed My School" Program

What originally began as a barren field of weeds became the star of the Feed My School for a Week kick-off at Sharon Elementary in Suwanee, Ga., last week.

With the help of parent volunteers, teachers and community leaders, the school courtyard was transformed into the DIGS -- an interactive learning space that includes life-size simple machines, an amphitheater for chorus concerts, outdoor musical instruments and a school garden.

Sharon Elementary kindergarten students, dressed as farmers,
wait to hear from United Egg Producers representatives during
their Feed My School for a Week kick off on Sept. 20.

"Before we knew it, it was one of those things that grew legs and just had a life of its own. It has transformed not only the courtyard, but really the spirit of outside. The energy is phenomenal," said Jenny Spartz, Sharon Elementary assistant principal. "The learning that takes place is just A-plus. You can't replicate it."

On Sept. 20, the learning taking place was all about Georgia agriculture. Students started their day with a presentation from United Egg Producers, learning about the state's poultry and egg industries and the important parts they play in economics and nutrition. After a brief question-and-answer period, classes headed out to the DIGS for an agriculture expo.

Students hopped on an orange Kubota tractor with fifth-grade parent Michael Hardin and learned about agriculture story.

"I grew up on a farm in Kentucky, so it was just a good day for me to come and spend it with the kids, answer questions," Hardin said. "Kids in this area think everything grows at the store. And it's very important they understand where their food comes from ... It's very important that we don't lose that as a society."

Students examine the roots of hydroponic lettuce during Sharon
Elementary's Feed My School for a Week kick-off expo.

From there, classes taste-tested hydroponic lettuce from Circle A Lettuce; shook their own butter at a station manned by Butter Sensations and Great Harvest Bread; and came face-to-face with bees courtesy of the Forsyth County Beekeepers Club.

"Today's kick off to the Feed My School program exceeded our expectations and was a spectacular success," Principal Amy Bartlett said. "All 900 students were able to participate in learning stations featuring locally grown products."

In the garden, students examined peppers, pumpkins and other crops, some planted next to black-and-white QR codes to scan.

"They scan the QR code and it gives them information about what that plant is," Spartz said. "A lot of crops here we use in our science labs to feed our animals."

Blaze, a resident of the Sharon Elementary science lab, enjoys
Georgia-grown vegetables from the DIGS garden as part of
her daily meals.

To prepare for their official Feed My School Week in April -- when Sharon Elementary will serve 75 to 100 percent Georgia-grown products to its student body -- students are already planting beets, broccoli and other seedlings in their science lab, carefully cultivating them until they're big enough to be planted in the DIGS garden.

"We'll be hopefully harvesting some things that we can eat in April when we culminate the project," Spartz said.

Sharon Elementary faculty, students and parents are looking forward to learning and teaching about agriculture throughout the school year, and Bartlett said she is honored the school was chosen for the program, a joint project by the Georgia departments of education and agriculture.

"It's always good to know where your food is coming from," John Kim, a kindergarten parent from Suwanee, said after watching the morning presentation. "You get the appreciation that somebody's behind where your food comes from, it doesn't just magically just come from the supermarket."

Seedlings grow in the Sharon Elementary science lab until they
are big enough to be planted in the DIGS garden.

View the full photo album on our Facebook page.

Five "Feed My School for a Week" Participants Selected

News release issued by the Georgia Department of Agriculture press office

 

Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Gary W. Black recently announced the five elementary schools selected for this year's Feed My School for a Week program sponsored by the Georgia Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Department of Education.

 

Colbert Elementary in Colbert, West Chatham Elementary in Savannah, Skyview Elementary in Macon, Sharon Elementary in Suwanee and Southside Elementary in Cairo are the chosen schools for this year's program. The Feed My School initiative increases awareness about the importance of proper nutrition and healthy eating while assisting schools in sourcing local produce and products.

 

"The pilot program of Feed My School was such a great success that we were encouraged to expand the program to five schools across the state," Black said. "With this program, students will discover the importance of agriculture through learning about the process that brings local produce and goods from an area farm to the cafeteria table, while at the same time receiving a healthy, delicious meal."

 

The program aims to help bridge the gap in the nutritional value and quality of food served in Georgia schools and provide more farm-to-cafeteria opportunities. The result will be healthier Georgia students, decreased barriers in farm-to-school efforts and increased awareness as students learn and experience, both educationally and nutritionally, where their food comes from.

 

During a one-week period in the spring semester, all lunches served out of each selected school's cafeteria will include 75 to 100 percent Georgia-grown food. The schools will host an agriculture guest speaker, hold taste tests for Georgia commodities and conduct an essay contest. There will also be an art contest at each school focused on a single Georgia commodity, in addition to several other education activities throughout the designated week.