MI Farm to School Training Opportunities

Greetings school food service and early child care providers,

 

Are you interested in starting or expanding a farm to school program at your school or early child care program?

 

Through generous funding from the WK Kellogg Foundation, the MSU Center for Regional Food Systems is offering MI Farm to School Training sessions around the state as part of the MI Farm to School Grant Program. To help bring local food into food service programs, this grant program provides farm to school planning and implementation mini-grants to selected school food service professionals at schools/districts AND early child care and education programs with 50% free and reduced rates or greater. Twenty-five MI Farm to School grants were awarded for the 2012/2013 school year, and all grantees will attend the training nearest them. Now we would like to extend the invitation to all Michigan school food service and early child care program providers who are interested beginning or expanding farm to school programs!

 

The MI Farm to School training dates and locations are as follows:

 

·        Tuesday, September 25^th, 12:30 – 4:30 pm

Livingston Educational Service Agency 

McGuffey Room

1425 W Grand River Ave.

Howell, MI 48843

 

·        Wednesday, September 26^th, 12:30 – 4:30pm 

Grayling Charter Township

2090 Viking Way

Grayling, MI 49738

 

·        Friday, September 28^th, 12:30 – 4:30pm 

Kent County Office, Michigan State University Extension

775 Ball Ave NE

Grand Rapids, MI 49503

 

·        Monday, October 1^st, 12:30 – 4:30 pm

MSU Detroit Center

3408 Woodward Ave.

Detroit, MI 48201

 

Training topics will include an overview of Michigan Farm to School, how and where to find and purchase Michigan products, meeting the new school nutrition standards with locally-grown food, farm to school food safety, expanding farm to school programs beyond produce and beyond lunch, and more! Light refreshments will be served at each training.

 

RSVP for any one of these free trainings here - http://tiny.cc/ah7sjw. RSVPs will be accepted on a first come first serve basis as space allows for each training location.

 

We hope to see you in September!

 

Colleen Matts

Farm to Institution Specialist

Center for Regional Food Systems | Michigan State University

480 Wilson Rd | Rm 303 Natural Resources Building | East Lansing, MI 48824

(p) 517.432.0310

www.foodsystems.msu.edu | www.mifarmtoschool.msu.edu

 

Fwd: Farm to Preschool e-news: August 2012

Hello Farm to School Friends and Partners,

The National Farm to Preschool Subcommittee has begun a national E-news publication that is published monthly and our MI Farm to School Grant Program has been featured this month! Check out below and check the website for a highlight in the "News" section. 

Jekeia

Begin forwarded message:

From: Farm to Preschool Subcommittee <info@farmtopreschool.org>
Date: August 29, 2012 4:27:07 PM EDT
To: <stilljek@msu.edu>
Subject: Farm to Preschool e-news: August 2012
Reply-To: Farm to Preschool Subcommittee <info@farmtopreschool.org>

In this photo: Preschoolers in Alaska water their garden with plastic water bottles pulled from a recycle bin. Do you have tips and tricks for gardening with preschoolers? See below, and send them our way! Photo courtesy of Denali Preschool and Learning Center Garden Camp. In this issue: Farm to Preschool at the Farm to Cafeteria Conference Request for your tips and helpful hints Popular curriculum resources Increased Farm to Preschool funding opportunities Inspired by Farm to Preschool across the U.S. The Farm to Preschool Subcommittee of the National Farm to School Network had the opportunity to meet and learn from almost 800 conference attendees at this year's Farm to Cafeteria Conference. We shared a bit about our work, including the results from our national Farm to Preschool survey, and we were inspired by the work and enthusiasm of many of you who attended. You can view the Farm to Preschool workshop PowerPoint from the conference, which includes additional information, case studies, and information about each Subcommittee member, here. Send us your tips Drilling lots of holes in the lid of a recycled water bottle (pictured above) makes watering with kids easy, free, and also makes it impossible to overwater! We want to compile a list of tips like this one from the experts: YOU! Submit your gardening, field trip, cooking, or taste testing suggestions so that programs nationwide can learn from your experiences: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FarmtoPreschool_tips Curriculum highlight Many of you asked for lesson plans and curricular resources when you filled out the Farm to Preschool survey. Many others gave us suggestions for the curricula you like best. We've compiled your responses below, and hope you'll check out these great resources! Grow It, Try It, Like It! (free) Color Me Healthy Early Sprouts I am Moving, I am Learning I Have a Rainbow in my Tummy (free) Sowing the Seeds of Wonder Harvest of the Month (free) And don't forget to visit the curricula page of www.farmtopreschool.org for more information. Funding opportunities expand Nine out of 25 grantees of Michigan Farm to School Grant Program 2012-2013 grants were awarded to child care programs. This is the first year that Farm to Preschool programming has been supported through the W.K. Kellogg Foundation-funded MI Farm to School Grant Program. Though this funding was originally established to support Farm to School in K-12 schools and districts, emerging interests around the state in Farm to Preschool efforts facilitated this year's additions! Other states around the country are beginning to do the same, such as Texas. Check your state Department of Agriculture, state-based Farm to School grant programs or the Farm to Preschool website to see if child care is included in your state. We are excited to see Farm to Preschool recognized in these funding streams! Don't forget! Visit our website for tons of Farm to Preschool resources and information. You can also submit your own events, news, or materials: farmtopreschool.org   You are receiving this email because you are subscribed to the Farm to Preschool Subcommittee enews list. Unsubscribe from this list. Block all communications from Ecotrust.

Re: Fresh from the Farm MI Training

Farm to School Friends,

Please find attached an invitation to participate in Seven Generations Ahead's Fresh from the Farm Training. There is still time to register!

For registration or more information please contact Shari Brown at: shari@sevengenerationsahead.org.  

Jekeia

--

Jekeia Murphy

Academic Specialist

Center for Regional Food Systems | Michigan State University

480 Wilson Rd, Rm 309 | Natural Resources Building | East Lansing, MI 48824

(p) 517-432-0308 | (f) 517-353-3834 |

foodsystems.msu.edu | www.mifarmtoschool.msu.edu