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OUR VISION
Wellness driven progress increases school meal participation, connects minds, and inspires growth. This work simultaneously invests in the resilience of our local food system from the farms to the schools and everything in between.
MISSION STATEMENT
Through Wellness focused institutional guidance, humans can become healthier and are more likely to succeed in their personal, professional, and educational efforts. The Farm to School program builds foundational Wellness through transformational experiences that engage participants in unique and holistic ways. Farm to School creates space to unpackage the impact of the social, political and ecological systems that shape us. Farm to School creates an environment that inspires reduction of unhealthy habits and promotes expansion of access to nutrition to ensure that it is both demanded and supplied within the school day and beyond.
GROWING MINDS & MORE!
Vegetation Forecast
Carrots
A crunchy garden classic. Full of good nutrition and a must have for soups and snacks!
Garlic
A cooking essential and the true test of patience, we plant these in October and harvest next Summer.
Scallions
Stronger than a Chive but less potent than full on Onions, Scallions are easy to grow and great for adding a little flavor!
Snakes
Not for eating and certainly a wild variety, but we definitely love all our garden friends.
Homestead Garden Open Hours
Tuesday: 9:30am-12:30pm
Thursday: 11:00am-2:15pm
Tuesdays and Thursdays the gates to the fabulous Homestead Garden are thrown open for masses to come and bask in the glory of cultivation, and maybe help out a little bit too.
The Garden is a sanctuary from the ebbs and flows of the building and our hope is that everyone gets a chance to come see what is up. So check your clock and calendar and if the time is right, join the Farm to School crew and see what we grew and what's left to do!
To Do List:
Weeding
Watering
Harvesting
Planting Seeds
Mindful self-reflection
Helping plants grow
Grounding
Art
Poetry
Yoga
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Why Garden?
"School gardens are effective tools for increasing students' knowledge about agriculture, food systems, nutrition, and the environment. School gardens have also been linked with improved student attitudes toward healthy foods, emotional well being, and an increase in physical activity".
-Farm to School Coordinator, Hannah Rion-
"Youth work together to investigate how to grow food, explore their relationship with the land and food system, and practice leadership in their communities. Youth discover the power of food gardening to provide their families and communities with fresh and affordable food, and experience firsthand the resilience, confidence, and connection that this time-honored practice brings. "
-Seeds of Wonder-
"Less than 2% of our population actually produces food on farms, while nearly 20% of our nation's workforce is in some way, shape, or form involved in the processing, marketing, distribution, and sales of food and fiber products. We all rely on agriculture every day--from food we eat, fibers our clothes are made of, and other materials we use each day to agriculture's relationship with our environment, economy, and society. And yet, little is taught in most schools about agriculture and food and fiber systems."
-NY Ag in the Classroom-
Farm to School Programmatic Goals
Create and provide inspirational original mission based content, as well as amplify the mission based initiatives of NGOs, USDA meal programs, Federal State and Local Government, and TST BOCES community including the land
Empower community members with knowledge, tools, and resources so they can identify healthy choices and direct their own journey towards a lifelong commitment to understanding and engaging in Holistic Wellness
Create space for open discussion of Food Justice issues. Catalyze brave spaces to dialogue about the stereotypes, misinformation and status-quo of food culture within our communities, country, and world at large.
Build local food system resiliency through leveraging recipe development and menu planning and institutional power to provide economic and social opportunities especially for underutilized and historically marginalized groups