Celebrate Farm to School Month by Registering Your School!
October is National Farm to School month, and to celebrate, the Kentucky Farm to School Network* is launching a statewide initiative to encourage farm to school activities – The Kentucky Farm to School Challenge! Farm to school connects students with the origins of their food through educational programming, local food served in cafeterias, and school gardens. Farm to school enriches the connection between students, farmers, and the food they eat. The Network invites schools to participate in the challenge by completing at least one activity in each of the three areas of farm to school during the 2021-22 school year.
To sign up to participate in the challenge, schools are encouraged to appoint one staff member to serve as the F2S advocate and point of contact, and register their school at kyhortcouncil.org/f2schallenge. The appointed staff member can be anyone! – food service director or kitchen staff, teacher, principal, or any other staff member of the school. Schools that register for the challenge will receive a mailed copy of our F2S Challenge kit with activity ideas, a poster and stickers to track challenge progress, and other promotional materials. Special thanks for our sponsors, Foundation for a Healthy KY and KY Hort Council for sponsoring the kits. To complete the “challenge,” schools will need to complete an activity in each area of F2S – procurement/cafeteria, ag education, and school gardens – by April 30th, 2022 and fill out and return the completed form to the Network. Schools that participate will be entered in the drawing for farm to school recognition and prizes.
Throughout the school year, participating schools are encouraged to post pictures of their farm to school activities and challenge progress on social media; be sure to tag the network @KYF2SNetwork and use the hashtag #kyfarmtoschool!
To register, visit kyhortcouncil.org/f2schallenge. Questions can be directed to KYF2SNetwork@gmail.com.
*The Kentucky Farm to School Network is a coalition of agencies, organizations, and advocates enthusiastic about farm to school programming in Kentucky. Members of the KY Farm to School Network include Bluegrass Farm to Table, Community Farm Alliance, Feeding KY, FoodChain, Foundation for Healthy KY, Grow Appalachia, KY Ag in the Classroom, KY Center for Ag and Rural Development, KY Department of Agriculture, KY Department of Education, KY Horticulture Council, KY Proud, University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, and partner schools and farmers across the state.