You Made It!

This June feels full of emotion. We have all made it through a school year fraught with challenges. To all the parents and students, teachers, administrators and of course School Food Workers, Put Local on Your Tray is sending you a deep exhale.

To all the farmers out there who are opening their harvest season after a year of sweaty hot masks in the field we look forward to enjoying your bounty in our "Dip into Summer" campaign, seasonal celebrations, taste tests and special menu items.

The first celebration is next week as Juneteenth arrives. Juneteenth is rich in food tradition with red food and drink taking special meaning. Lift up this heart-opening history and read more here, "Juneteenth Food and Drink is Red for a Reason" and check out some beautiful recipes.

In this Newsletter:

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The Sound of Slurping!

This years "Great Smoothie Slurp " to celebrate local strawberries, spring greens and National Dairy month was a delicious close to the school year. Ten districts received stickers, activity booklets and bookmarks to go with taste test and breakfast smoothies.

Food Service Director Maureen Nuzzo was blending up fresh Massaro Farm Strawberries with Kale from Four Root Farm. 2 Flats of berries and a half case of kale made 160 servings!
FoodCorps service member Liz Wimpfheimer made rainbow smoothies with 3rd graders at Kendall Elementary school in Norwalk. We added fruits and veggies from each color of the rainbow. "We included kale from our school garden and strawberries from Massaro Farm!"
Ana Horowitz, FoodCorps service member at Smalley Elementary in New Britain used vanilla yogurt to sweeten up her berry green smoothie taste test!
With FoodCorps Service Members, Talia Clarke (Rawson) & Macey Clavette (Breakthrough South) Smoothie Slurp-fests included kale and spinach from Micro2Life and Knox Community Farmers, Wades Dairy milk and berries from Czajkowski's Farm. Students sampled some delicious new smoothie recipes and gave them a resounding "thumbs up".

Massaro Farm, Four Root Farm and many more are listed on our Farm to School Directory! Check it out to find a farm near you ready to connect with districts.

https://putlocalonyourtray.uconn.edu/farm/

News, Resources &
Partner Events

The CT Grown for CT Kids Grants Program House Bill 6618 featured on NBC NEWS has PASSED!!! Many voiced were raised in support of this bill and much behind the scenes effort was made. Thank you to everyone who helped to bring $250,000 into CT school for increased farm to school effort in our state!
“I think this bill is extremely important for not only the educational side of it and helping students to understand where their food grows but also helping directors like me who might not have all of the resources,” said Lonnie Burt, Senior Director for Hartford Food & Child Nutrition Services.

NBC VIDEO HERE : https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/ct-grown-for-ct-kids-connecting-communities-to-farm-to-school-opportunities/2494422/

Food Corps Connecticut
Service member application is still open! We have positions in Norwalk, New Britain, Bridgeport New London, Hartford, Naugatuck, and Meriden!
https://foodcorps.org/apply/where-youll-serve/connecticut/

National Farm to School Network Gathering
A more just and equitable food system is possible – but it's going to take all of us to get us there. To motivate, activate, and coordinate our collective work, National Farm to School Network invites you to plug into our Call to Action: Join us on June 23, 2021 for a virtual Community Gathering to dig into how farm to school – the ways kids eat, grow, and learn about food in schools and early care and education settings – can be part of the work to shift power and cultivate justice in our food system. Registration is free!
http://www.farmtoschool.org/calltoaction#Gathering

Modern Farmer. - The Healthiest Meals in American Come from Schools
April 2021 by. Dan Nosowitz
A long-term study finds that the source of the most nutritious food is schools. "This research makes it clear how important school meals can be for children—and especially, how important their nutritional makeup is. "
https://modernfarmer.com/2021/04/the-healthiest-meals-in-america-come-from-schools/

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Put Local on Your Tray · Tolland County Extension Center · 24 Hyde Ave. · Vernon, Ct 06066 · USA