
FoodCorps Frustrated by Cancellation of Farm to School Grants, Another Blow to Local Food
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Years before I became a busy FoodCorps AmeriCorps service member, I was already a dedicated journaler. My seminal journal entries usually began with a dramatic “Dear Diary…” and continued with thorough retellings of my second-grade days. A decade and a half later, my journals are more like anchors that ground me within the daily whirl.
Warren County FoodCorps wrapped up its services here with a celebration last Thursday after seven years of teaching students that locally-grown foods are not only delicious, but also fun to grow.
This June, FoodCorps brought together 20 aspiring school food service leaders to help them explore careers in school food, build their network, and get hands-on experience working in school food. They traveled from all over the country to learn from leaders in the field. Vanika Jethwa CT ’17, an alum who joined us from Keene, NH, shares reflections on her experience at the training.
Catch up on the latest news about the farm bill, AmeriCorps funding, and school meals.
Countless seeds have been planted and produce harvested since Mary Grace Stoneking arrived in Van Buren two years ago. Assigned as the first-ever FoodCorps service member with the Van Buren School District, Stoneking’s arrival signaled a shift in the way VBSD approached nutrition education and ushered in a new way of thinking about food and its origins for Van Buren students.
CONWAY — Sarah Lane was cheering for the carrots in the Ida Burns Elementary School learning garden in Conway. “We have some carrots that look like they’re going to be ready next week, so I’m crossing my fingers that we can use them before the kids leave for the summer,” she said before school was out. May 24 was the students’ last day, and the carrots “looked good,” she said.
Think the Farm Bill doesn’t affect you? Think again. Most people know the Farm Bill as covering agricultural laws and farmer subsidy payments. But it also covers a whole lot more, and impacts everyone who eats in this country—in other words, everyone.
Students gather around tables early in the morning in the Durant-Tuuri-Mott Elementary auditorium, enjoying yogurt parfaits on one of their last days of school. Not so long ago, many of these students would not have entertained the idea of eating yogurt with fresh fruits and granola.
MacQuiddy Elementary students were given a special treat Friday when local farmer Javier Zamora visited during lunch break to teach them about strawberries.
In a town north of Los Angeles, Mar Vista Elementary School stands almost completely surrounded by farmland. On one side is a field of strawberries, the crop that made the town famous. On the other, it’s rows and rows of hoop houses containing what they’re pretty sure is artichokes. The town has long been an agricultural community, and many of the students at Mar Vista are from families that work in the fields.