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June 2022: Spring & Early Summer Recipes
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Dear Wisconsin Farm to School,
Eating local foods all year long is an exciting way for young people to learn about what grows in their climate and how to store and preserve foods. But I get excited when early summer hits and it's finally time for fresh lettuce, radishes, herbs, and berries from my garden or local farm.
This month's newsletter features recipes for eaters, growers, and budding chefs of all ages. Whether you're harvesting and eating out of your program's garden or serving locally grown produce in your cafeteria, this is a great time of year to celebrate what our land and our farmers provide.
Make sure you scroll to the end for some highlights from Wisconsin School Garden Day! We love seeing your gardens and we're thrilled that we are still getting emails and photos from you.
Renata Solan, Communications Director, Rooted/Wisconsin School Garden Network
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Throughout the newsletter, you will see these icons after descriptions of resources, funding opportunities, and more to help you find information that is right for your program:
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Announcements & Highlights
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Eat local and stay hydrated with herb-infused water!
With the weather warming up, infusing water with herbs or fruit is a great way to help children stay hydrated and enjoy getting their 8 glasses with a variety of flavors and no added sugar! Early summer gives us many delightful flavors to experiment with – you can use herbs like mint, lemon balm, lavender, or even pine needles, as well as any of your favorite fruits. Cucumber also makes a refreshing and hydrating infusion, and it pairs well with lime and mint. You can even try an infused water ‘buffet’ with many different options and have kids pick out their favorite flavors for their water bottles. View resource.
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Click the green joke of the month button below to see the answer to this month's joke and to see Wisconsin School Garden Network's library of past jokes.
Have a farm to school joke to share? Email Rooted's Communications Director Renata Solan at renata@rootedwi.org.
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Celebrating Seasonality
This collection of twelve child-friendly recipes are designed to promote Wisconsin-grown produce in all ECE settings, as well as information to help you find and purchase more local foods, a seasonality chart of Wisconsin crops, farmer stories, and suggestions to help you incorporate more farm to ECE activities. Read through the whole guide or skip straight to the spring and summer recipes for some in-season meal options! View resource.
  
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Cultivating Young Leaders: A Workbook for Growing a Youth-led Cooperative Garden Business
This innovative resource, created in partnership with City Blossoms, is informed by the work of their Youth Entrepreneurship Cooperative (YEC) program. It is complete with templates and tools to support anyone interested in connecting high school youth with gardens and entrepreneurship skill-building. View resource.
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Sumac Lemonade
If you have sumac shrubs (Rhus typhina) growing around you, or have access to a Mediterranean grocery store, you can also try making sumac berry lemonade. The tart pink fruit has a unique flavor and will impart their bright color to your drink. View resource.
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Farm to Early Care and Education Shared Metrics
This resource offers a set of metrics and indicators to help practitioners and evaluators in the field identify and measure program outcomes and assess the impact they have on kids, families, caregivers, and communities. It also aims to help policymakers and funders make more informed decisions about how best to support and invest in Farm to ECE programs. View resource.
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Radishes
There are dozens of types of radishes in a variety of shapes, colors, and flavors: Round to tapered. Thumb-sized to foot-long. With skin in shades of red, pink, black, white, and green. Some have colorful flesh, too. All have some degree of spiciness or heat — from pleasingly piquant French breakfast radishes to pungent and peppery Spanish radishes. Best of all, radishes are easy and fun to grow. These activities are meant for students of all ages. View resource.
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Webinars, Conferences, Events & Trainings
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KidsGardening: Funding Your Garden
June 14, 2022 // 3:00 p.m. // Virtual
School food gardens need funding to get started and continue from year to year, and what better way to secure support than through your local community? In this webinar, a panel of garden experts will discuss ways to fundraise. Learn more and register here.
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GROW Open Garden Series
Tuesdays & Thursdays // La Crosse, WI
Each week from June 14 - August 18, GROW will host Open Gardens on Tuesdays from 4:30-6:30 p.m.and on Thursdays from 8:30-10:30 a.m. These events are a time to stop into the garden to explore, harvest, learn and connect with nature. You will have the opportunity to take part in a hands-on activity led by a GROW team member. Open Gardens are FREE and open to all. You can come late, leave early, or stay the whole time. Learn more about locations and activities.
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Racial Equity in Farm to School Training Series
Multiple dates // 2:00-4:00 p.m.// Virtual
Please join us for a virtual summer series on Racial Equity in Farm to School. Hosted by The Farm to School Coalition of NC, this free, 5 session, 120 min workshop series will be led by a team from we are (www.weare-nc.org).
Workshop dates and topics:
June 21: Implicit Biases
July 19: Language Analysis & Speak Up
August 30: History & Policy
September 20: Curriculum / School Meals
October 25: Community Praxis Sharing in Farm to School
Learn more and register here.
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The Lifecycle of Farm to School Workshop Series: Harvesting
June 22, 2022 // 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. // Bay Port High School, Howard-Suamico School District, Green Bay, WI
DPI’s fourth Lifecycle of Farm to School workshop will be held in person. During this hands-on workshop, you will learn how to harvest the vegetables you have worked so hard to grow in your school gardens and will also eat a meal with the foods we harvest together. Space is limited and priority will be given to Food Service Directors and staff at Wisconsin School Food Authorities. Learn more and register here.
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Bringing the Farm to School: State Producer Training Stipends
Open until all stipends have been awarded
The Bringing the Farm to School team is excited to share an opportunity for state teams to implement a Local Producer Training for producers!
The National Farm to School Network will be providing 20 stipends to state teams in the amount of $2000 per stipend, in support of the planning and implementation of a Local Producer Training within your respective state. Use of funds may include speaker or attendee stipends or travel expenses, training material purchase or printing, training space costs, or other expenses related to implementing the Bring the Farm to School Local Producer training. You can access the stipend application form here. Learn more here.
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Green Our Planet’s GardenConnect STEM Program Grant Application
Deadline: June 10, 2022
We're excited to announce that Green Our Planet is providing grants to 250 public or charter schools in the United States to help fund Green Our Planet's Hydroponics STEM Program and/or Green Our Planet's outdoor GardenConnect STEM program next year at your schools. Learn more here.
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Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program - Produce Prescription Program
Deadline: June 30, 2022
The National Institute for Food and Agriculture's (NIFA) Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program - Produce Prescription Program focuses on projects that improve dietary health through increased consumption of fruits and vegetables; reduce individual and household food insecurity; and reduce healthcare use and associated costs. Applications may only be submitted by government agencies and non-profit organizations; however, award recipients may sub-award to organizations not eligible to apply provided such organizations are necessary for the conduct of the project. Learn more here.
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Little Seeds Pollinator Pals Grant
Deadline: July 15, 2022
The Little Seeds Pollinator Pals Grant presented by Little Seeds and KidsGardening is designed to support youth garden programs interested in preserving and creating pollinator habitats to help rebuild declining pollinator populations. In 2022, twenty programs will be awarded checks of $500 to support the development of new and expansion of existing pollinator gardens. Learn more here.
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Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program
Deadline: July 20
The Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program deadline has been extended to July 20, 2022. The funding period has also been extended to 18 months rather than 12 months. Through the LFS program, USDA will award up to $200 million to states for food assistance purchases of domestic local foods for distribution to schools. This program will strengthen the food system for schools by helping to build a fair, competitive, and resilient local food chain, and expand local and regional markets with an emphasis on purchasing from historically underserved producers and processors. Read the RFP.
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National Institute of Food and Agriculture Grant
Deadline: July 28, 2022
The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Sustainable Agricultural Systems supports approaches that promote transformational changes in the U.S. food and agriculture system. NIFA seeks creative and visionary applications that take a systems approach for projects that are expected to significantly improve the supply of affordable, safe, nutritious, and accessible agricultural products while fostering economic development and rural prosperity in America. Learn more here.
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Make a Difference as an AmeriCorps Farm to School Specialist
Now accepting applications
Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction is now accepting applications for the AmeriCorps ‘22-23 service year. As a Farm to School Specialist, you will help teachers and school nutrition professionals by developing and implementing nutrition programs that will educate children about the benefits of making healthy eating choices. Positions are available across the state of Wisconsin. Learn more here.
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Food First Fellows Program
Deadline: June 30, 2022
The Food First Fellows Program is a research, advocacy and leadership fellowship for early career researchers, academics and grassroots organization advocates. Its purpose is to nurture and grow the next generation of influential thought leaders capable of creating and implementing strategies in the food justice/food sovereignty space. This fellowship is part of the Institute for Food and Development Policy (better known as Food First) transition towards a BIPOC-led and focused organization. The inaugural cohort of up to three (3) Fellows will serve a one-year fellowship with a possible additional year extension. Learn more here.
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How the Government Helped White Americans Steal Black Farmland
There was once a thriving Black middle class based on farm ownership. But during the twentieth century, the USDA helped erase that source of wealth.
News source: The New Republic, May 5, 2022. Read more.
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Confronting Head Start’s Workforce Crisis
In a recent brief published by the National Head Start Association, the crisis faced by Head Start and Early Head Start workforce is acknowledged. With chronic low compensation, challenging job conditions, and better opportunities offered by other employers, there is a significant increase in the number of resignations. These challenges in filling open positions leads to fewer children being served, which may have greater implications for a child's development. Read the brief.
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What's Growing in Wisconsin?
Wisconsin School Garden Day Recap
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On May 19, youth garden education sites across Wisconsin celebrated the 4th annual Wisconsin School Garden Day. Wisconsin is the only state to have an officially recognized day to recognize the joy, the educational benefits, and the skills that gardening provides our state's young people. You can read Governor Evers's proclamation here.
Check out the photos below for some highlights from the big day. You can find more photos from Wisconsin School Garden Day on Facebook and Instagram by searching for the hashtag #WISchoolGardenDay. If you celebrated Wisconsin School Garden Day, don't forget to post your photos or email us at WSGN@rootedwi.org.
Clockwise from the top: Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes visits Vincent High School in Milwaukee to learn more about their agricultural program and meet the goats;
young learners do garden-themed art at Pinney Library in Madison;
kids learn about bugs and planting beans from Slow Food USA’s school garden program at Monk Botanical Gardens in Wausau;
Lac Du Flambeau Elementary School prep their garden;
AmeriCorps Farm to School Members plant and grow with students across Wisconsin (photo from Elvehjem Elementary School in Madison);
Junior Master Gardeners prepare for the growing season with Fond du Lac County Extension;
Hamilton Elementary School students garden with GROW in La Crosse
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Have a question or feedback about the newsletter?
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