NW Michigan Food and Farming Network Report to the Community 2015 Report to the Community

2015 Report to the community Ten Years of Farm to School Activities are now in 14 schools, 70 classes By Meghan McDermott MLUI/FoodCorps In 2014 we celebrated the 10-year anniversary of farm to school programming in northwest Michigan. Starting with just a few activities in one school in 2004, the Michigan Land Use Institute’s farm to school program gradually grew to feature biweekly farm to school activities in more than 70 individual classrooms across 14 schools, reaching nearly 2,000 students. The broader impact of farm to school work has seen dozens of schools through northwest Michigan begin to support farm to school programming in some form or another, from hosting Junior Iron Chef Competitions and building school gardens, to connecting food service directors with local farmers. In the 2013-14 school year, our team of two FoodCorps service members and two additional farm to school educators helped bring more than 1,500 pounds of local produce into cafeterias and classrooms in The evidence that farm to school work is deeply entrenched in creating a more just and sustainable food system is clear. Meghan McDermott leads a tasting of Romanesco cauliflower at a TCAPS elementary school. (Photo: Daniel Marbury) Grand Traverse, Benzie, Antrim and Leelanau counties. Three schools started school gardens, and eight more continued operating existing gardens. Cafeteria taste tests had nearly 2,000 students voting whether they “tried,” “liked,” or “loved” local products such as Romanesco cauliflower, parsnips, beets, asparagus, apples, and radishes. The evidence that farm to school work is deeply entrenched in creating a more just and sustainable food system is clear—from students declaring “all I have to do is double try it and I’ll love it!”; to parents being dragged over to a farm stand because their third grader was asking “Can we pleeeassee buy a parsnip?”; to farmers stating that farm to school programs “help us market our produce locally and [are] a significant part of our business.” In the fall of 2014, we launched a Harvest of the Month program that ties local seasonality with elementary school curriculum and gives food service directors an opportunity to 24 market new foods to students. Our far

NW Michigan Food and Farming Network Report to the Community 2015 Report to the Community | Page 29