Farm to Summer Bianca Smith Chris Iberle Nutrition Specialist - PDF document

Farm to Summer Bianca Smith Chris Iberle Nutrition Specialist Farm to Schools Lead OSPI Child Nutrition Washington State Services Department of Agriculture Thank you for joining us for the Farm to Summer Webinar 1

What is Farm to Summer? Any of the following activities: • Buy foods from local farmers • Serve one or more local foods on summer menu • Incorporate agricultural enrichment activities into summer feeding programs There are a variety of ways child nutrition program sponsors can participate in Farm to Summer. Programs can serve one or more local food items on their summer menu or offer agricultural enrichment activities at their summer meals sites. These enrichment activities could include gardening activities or conducting nutrition education activities, offering a taste test of local foods, or hosting a field trip to a local farm. 2

Why Buy Local for Summer Meals? • Huge variety of fresh fruits, vegetables, and other local foods • More tasty, fresh foods for children • Support local farmers • Can be a meaningful educational opportunity Why should child nutrition programs participate in Farm to Summer? There are a number of benefits to participating in this initiative. • It allows programs to take advantage of the season’s bountiful fresh fruits, vegetables, and other local foods • Provides a meaningful educational opportunity for children and your community • It enhances the quality of the meals served though your summer meal program and could potentially increase participation. • This is also an opportunity to support local farmers 3

What Types of Products? To get started let’s talk about the local foods that you can incorporate into your summer meals program to celebrate Farm to Summer week. It’s common to think of local fruits and vegetables when we talk about Farm to School or Farm to Summer but it’s also a great idea to think about the rest of the meal. Local products can span the lunch tray. You don’t have to purchase all local food items to participate in Farm to Summer—no effort is too small. 4

Local Procurement Highlights » Step 1 – Contact local farmers and find out what is in season now » Step 2 – Follow the same procurement process as other purchases » Step 3 – Serve local products The first step to incorporating local foods into your summer meals program is finding out what is local and in season. Next, it’s time to determine if you can work to incorporate these local items into your procurement process. There are a range of ways to buy local foods. Sponsors must follow proper procurement procedures and maintain appropriate documentation. Talk to your child nutrition program specialist if you have any questions about the proper procurement procedures to follow. Lastly serve the local products at one or more of the meals you serve this summer and celebrate your success! 5

Summer Season Highlights • Peaches, nectarines, and plums • Berries and cherries • Tomatoes • Corn • Snap peas • Melon • …and so much more! The first step in procuring local foods is determining what is available locally and in season. This is a seasonality chart for our state. It can be found on the Washington State Department of Agriculture website. Some common locally available items during the summer include berries, cherries, and tomatoes, for example. If you are looking for more information about working with local farmers or purchasing local foods please reach out to WSDA at the email or phone number listed here. 6

Where Can I Find Local Foods? Direct Options Gardens Farms and Farmers’ Markets Indirect Food Retailers Meal Vendors Options Distributors There are various different ways to procure local foods. The different options fall into two different buckets: direct and indirect. Direct options would include getting foods from a school or community garden and also purchasing directly from farmers. With indirect options, you aren’t purchasing directly from the source but are still procuring local foods. This can be done through Food retailers (e.g., grocery stores, food hubs, food co ‐ ops), distributors or your summer meal vendor if you contract with someone to provide your summer meals. Local foods can be purchased through each of these options, the key is contacting sources early to help with planning. Contact the Farm to School team at WSDA for help connecting with local farms and other programs involved with Farm to School. I will share their contact information on a later slide. 7

Resources • WSDA Farm to School Product Availability Find farmer list at: https://is.gd/QXSVxY • WSDA Toolkit: Farm to Summer Page https://agr.wa.gov/departments/business-and-marketing-support/farm-to-school- toolkit/for-districts-school-nutrition-local-food/summer-meals • Need help finding local farms to work with? Contact: FarmtoSchool@agr.wa.gov or (206) 714-2757 • Washington State Farm to School Network www.wafarmtoschoolnetwork.org The Washington State Department of Agriculture also has a variety of free resources available to support your Farm to Summer efforts. Take some time to explore the WSDA Farm to School Toolkit and Farm to Summer page for helpful information and tools related to Washington Farm to School. Need help finding local farms to work with? Again, you can contact WSDA’s Farm to School team using the contact information shared here for support. • WSDA Farm to School Product Availability Find farmer list at: https://is.gd/QXSVxY • WSDA Toolkit: Farm to Summer Page https://agr.wa.gov/departments/business ‐ and ‐ marketing ‐ support/farm ‐ to ‐ school ‐ toolkit/for ‐ districts ‐ school ‐ nutrition ‐ local ‐ food/summer ‐ meals • Need help finding local farms to work with? Contact: 8

FarmtoSchool@agr.wa.gov or (206) 256 ‐ 1874 • Washington State Farm to School Network www.wafarmtoschoolnetwork.org 8

Washington Farm to Summer Questions & Support • What are your questions? • How are you making farm to summer work this year? • What support do you need? • What else would help you buy locally this summer? Kent School District staff prep fresh local produce Both of these programs were awarded through the USDA’s Summer Sunshine Awards in recognition of their Farm to Summer efforts. (Bianca will talk more about these awards later in the training) Kent Scho Ke School Di District: ct: Tovias Magaña, owner of Magaña Farms in Sunnyside, provides Kent School District Nutrition Services with fruit from his orchards for summer lunches. Fresh cherries, nectarines, apricots and peaches from Magaña farms are featured in summer lunches served free to children at over 40 locations in Kent. Tovias established Magaña Farms in Sunnyside in 1986. He sells produce at Pike Place Market and a local farmers market, and to a select few school districts in Washington. Magaña Farms produces stone fruits, apples, pears and warm ‐ season vegetables. Kent School District Nutrition Services features fruit and vegetables from Magaña Farms in school lunches and summer lunches whenever possible. Wallin llingford Boy Boys and and Gi Girls rls Club Club of of Boy Boys and and Gi Girls rls Club Clubs of of Ki King ng Cou County: ty: “We heard about this opportunity from Nicole Lowe the year after we first did the food program and over the next few years, we used what was available through Farm Stand to help plan our summer food menus. So, for example, if they had squash 9

available and I had broccoli on the menu, I’d make the adjustment. This helped us save in our budget and with time. We have really enjoyed the delivery folks over the years and Kelly reached out to offer a nutrition program for our kids the past two years, so they’ve had folks come in and do an activity with our kids, while emphasizing healthy nutrition habits. In essence, since we were already doing an all ‐ vegetarian USDA lunch, this was a real win ‐ win partnership because the Farm Stand foods allowed us to fully realize the vision of what we wanted to do, in terms of offering kids a variety of fresh, organic foods – encouraging them to try new things – while still being cognizant of our budget and making sure our meals were tasty enough so that kids will actually enjoy eating them.” 9

Keep For Farm to Summer Your Records Date: ________________ Key Areas: 1000 – Nutrition 1130 – Farm to School .5 hour Professional Standards Credit Form - Please keep a copy or add it to your record to track them. 10

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