COMMITTEES Farm to School
SCHOOLS CONTINUE FARM TO SCHOOL THROUGHOUT THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Farm to School Feature
COMPILED BY JULIE M. RAWAY, MPH, RDN, CDN, SNS, FAND FARMTO SCHOOL CHAIR
BEACON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT
BROOME-TIOGA BOCES ROCK ON CAFE PROGRAM
HAMBURG CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
oneida-herkimer-madison boces Since schools shifted to remote learning last March, the 15 School Districts in the OHM BOCES School Nutrition Program have been serving grab and go meals for pick up and delivery, in person meals delivered to classrooms, gyms, and other locations, and through traditional hot and cold service lines; if there is a method of meal service you can think of, we have done it! While all these different methods present numerous challenges, we are proud to continue to include New York State and locally grown foods and products in all our menus. We have simplified a lot of our meals, but we continue to track at about 30% our lunch food purchases from NYS sources. The list below (not necessarily in any order) are our “Top 10 Farm to School Pandemic Staples” These items have found a permanent home on our school meal menus-pandemic and beyond! Top 10 Farm to School Pandemic Staples
The Hamburg Central School District had several events going on throughout the school year. Here is a highlight of a few!
Farmers Market Stands: Every week throughout the season to continue outreach to families and farmers, sharing info on our Child Nutrition and Farm to School program.
Beacon City School District in lower Dutchess County re-opened to students this fall with a hybrid learning model. This meant serving students meals remotely, from one of their five pick-up locations or delivered to a students front door via the city school buses. Beacon City School District worked with their Farm to School partners (Common Ground Farm, Land to Learn and Fareground) to put together remote meal kits for students receiving meals outside of school. The Meal Kits included kitchen staples like a cutting board, a child safe knife, a vegetable peeler, a small container of olive oil and a binder to collect their farm to school recipes, all in a tote bag designed by a student. We also sent home bulk produce from the farm with a recipe that aligned with our usual Vegetable of the Month program. Our first month was October and families received recipes for Krazy Kale Chips and a Lemony Kale Salad along with kale from Common Ground Farm and local apples. The remote meals also include New York State milk from Hudson Valley fresh. Land to Learn and Common Ground Farm worked together to make a series of short YouTube videos that include a recipe demonstration and some fun facts about the featured vegetable from the farm. At the end of the month Beacon City School District sends home a very brief survey to parents who are signed up for remote meals to rate the recipe (on a scale of 1-5) or say if they didn’t make it. It’s been a big hit and has increased the number of students who were signed up for remote meals.
About a year ago the 15 Broome-Tioga BOCES school districts in the Southern Tier of New York pivoted to offer meals at home and then shifted to many different meal distributions in the fall. School continued to implement some farm to school efforts to support farmers and continue to provide fresh local food to students. With all the uncertainty and continual changes in school structure, there has been the opportunity to take a step back and regroup enabling the farm to efforts to better align for future years. Throughout the pandemic, schools have continued farm to school efforts by celebrating NY Thursdays twice a month with as much NYS products and food as they can. Additionally, schools have been sending home many NY Foods including Apples, Milk, Yogurt, Cheese, Apple Cider, and Oats. Schools have also taken the opportunity to go above and beyond offering bulk local produce and gallons of NY Milk to families at remote meal pick up sites. Furthermore, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Broome County and Food & Health Network were passionate about continuing education and put together grow kits for students to grow their own product at home over the summer. These were a huge hit as it provided a fun learning activity! As the Broome-Tioga BOCES Rock on Café schools look towards next year, they have collaborated Cornell Cooperative Extension of Broome County and Food & Health Network to align food procurement, education in the classroom, and promotions. This past school year, they introduced a fun and educational farm to school newsletter
Second Annual Junior Chef challenge: A culinary class teamed up with two local pizzeria owners (virtually) to create a pizza pie using NY ingredients.
1. Apples: whole and sliced! 2. Milk 3. String Cheese 4. Grape Juice and Grape Slushies
5. Hot Dogs 6. Meatballs
7. Sunshine Bars: local butternut puree 8. Yogurt: Stoltzfus or Chobani for us 9. Black Bean Brownies 10. And of course the vegetables Roasted Potatoes, maple carrots, coleslaw.... Honorable Mention: Miss Mila’s NY Chocolate Chip Cookies!
March Madness / National Nutrition Month: Five NY menus, one per week kicked off with friendly NY sauce making competition. Superintendent Mike Cornell and MS Cook Gene Govenettio led two teams of Culinary students in making their favorite pasta sauce to be served for lunch March 2nd and 6th. Local Tomatoes from 2020 season were processed and frozen for later use.
that has been shared broadly within the school districts, community, and on social media. There is also collaboration to kick off a farm to school videos series next fall and monthly nutrition education that aligns with what is being offered to students in the cafeteria.
KALE VIDEO
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FreshBites
SPRING 2021
FreshBites
SPRING 2021
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