Maybe it’s already there! Check in with your food service director, school principal, or parent-teacher organization to find out what efforts are already being made to connect students to food and gardening. The National Farm to School Network is a good place to learn more. 

Our programs are funded through a variety of community, foundational, and federal grants and donations from organizations and individuals. Please see our Partners and Funders for more information.

We choose recipes that feature fruits and vegetables as main ingredients, have lots of jobs to involve many students, and can be prepared in a 60-minute class session (including set up, eating, and clean up!). Many of our favorites have been adapted from the Edible Schoolyard, but we’ve also developed our own recipes over the years that coordinate with our garden’s harvest, academic standards, and teacher and student interests. We also cook almost exclusively vegetarian in our classroom.

Our vocational program is currently only available to high school students (sophomores or juniors at the time of application) in the Concrete School District. If this is you, please contact the Concrete Farm to School program coordinator for more information. Positions are advertised in the spring at UnitedGeneral.org/Join-Our-Team.

A good place to start is by reaching out to your school district’s Food Service Director. Keep in mind that this is usually a very busy person, responsible for hundreds or perhaps thousands of meals a day and that they are already doing a good job! School food budgets are also extremely tight, so be aware that they will likely not be able to meet your price point. Nonetheless, working with school meal programs is incredibly rewarding! Concrete students know the day our local farmer runs out of carrots and food service has to go back to buying them from our local distributor because they are less sweet! If you are interested in working with the Concrete or Sedro-Woolley school districts, please contact our program coordinators for more information.

We choose the Harvest of the Month based on seasonality of produce (what’s growing in that particular month!), availability at local farms, and ease of preparation. As we’ve developed relationships with our local farms, it’s been easier to predict which month will have which vegetable!

All of our Farm to School recipes and cooking videos can be found here.

Farm to School is important for many reasons. It connects kids and communities to where their food comes from, and through growing and cooking their own food, healthier habits are formed. It allows space for experiential, hands-on education outside that is built into the school day. It also creates spaces for teamwork, exploration, collaboration, and inquiry, all of which are essential to the healthy development of children and adolescents.

There are multiple volunteer opportunities for Farm to School. You can volunteer to help take care of the school garden care and maintenance, which is especially helpful over weekends and during the summer, when students are not present. You can help out in garden or cooking classes during the school day as an extra adult to help lessons go smoothly. Other opportunities come up throughout the year as well with events or specific needs; contact your Farm to School program coordinator or fill out our volunteer form and we will be in touch!

Donations to Farm to School are mainly used to help fund running our garden and cooking classes throughout the school year. This includes buying food, kitchen supplies and utensils, seeds and starts for the gardens, and tools for use in the gardens, among many other things. Donations also help fund summer programming and help pay student interns as well as purchase much needed supplies for garden upkeep and school grounds maintenance. Please make an online donation today!

Any grade can participate in Farm to School! It depends on the school district, the nature of the program, and the relationship the program has with the school and the teachers. In Concrete, we have garden and cooking classes for grades K-8 throughout the school year, and also facilitate hands-on tasks with high school food science and culinary arts classes. In the summers, we run a high school work internship as well as help with summer camps for kids entering grades K-8 in a partnership with Concrete Boys and Girls Club.

Cooking with kids is a complex yet highly rewarding process. The most essential tip we have is to establish clear systems with classes so that kids know exactly what to expect and what to do when it is time to cook. Safety procedures need to be a part of this system, especially when cooking with heat and/or when using any type of sharp utensils. Split the class into groups and have an adult present at each group, especially with younger grades. Make expectations and steps of the process very clear. For younger grades, prepare the recipe step by step with the students, having them take turns to do each step. For older grades, encourage them to split the tasks among themselves so that they are working as a team. Emphasize cleaning up as a group and setting the tables, if possible. Having everyone eat the meal they have made together is a heartwarming finish. It may feel chaotic at first, but once your systems are down and the students know what to expect, it is among the most rewarding and laughter-filled activities one can do with kids. Many of our initial resources came from Edible Schoolyard; adapt to your scenario as you see fit. https://edibleschoolyard.org/curriculum

If a Farm to School program has been present for a long period of time, there are significant long-term benefits associated for that school and that community. An established program has rapport among the school district, the teachers, and the students. It is fully integrated into the school day and an expected and anticipated part of the curriculum of each grade. This means every grade has guaranteed experiential, inquiry-based education as part of their school experience. Students understand how to grow and cook their own food, and know exactly where their food comes from. This encourages healthy eating and a more active lifestyle over time, as these students pass this knowledge to their parents, and to their own children as well. The repercussions are ripples of learning and health that extend outward, creating an overall healthier community over time.