ASAP’s Growing Minds Farm to School program offers resources, training, and support to schools and ECE (early care and education) sites in the Southern Appalachians and across North Carolina. We consider Farm to School and Farm to ECE to have these four pillars: edible gardening, classroom cooking, farm experiences, and local food in meals.
General Farm to School
Farm to School Monthly and Farm to Preschool Monthly e-newsletters – Our monthly e-newsletters include information about grant opportunities, trainings, resources, and tips for implementing farm to school and farm to preschool.
Lesson Plans, Activities, and Recipes – Save or print free lesson plans, themed resources lists, virtual farm tour videos, and recipes related to school gardens, farms, and local food.
Training – We work with teachers and child nutrition staff understand how to use the school garden, cook in the classroom, incorporate and promote local food in the cafeteria, and use farm field trips and farmer visits as instructional tools.
Lending library – The Growing Minds’ lending library, in ASAP’s office, is full of children’s literature and curricula for preschools and elementary schools.
This Week in the Garden newsletter – Created for every week of the school year, this newsletter features farm to school recipes, children’s books, and activity ideas. We have both This Week in the Garden (K-2) and This Week in the Garden: Preschool Edition.
School Gardens
Free seeds for school gardens – Stop by ASAP’s office for a selection of seeds that grow well during the school year. Seeds are available for pre-K to 12 public and private schools in the Appalachian Grown region.
Farm Field Trips
Farm field trip – Hands-on local food and farm experiences are a big part of farm to school. Check out ASAP’s online Local Food Guide to help plan your farm field trip.
Local Food in the Cafeteria
Sourcing and labeling local food – In addition to resources for teachers and schools, Growing Minds works with School Nutrition Directors who are interested in increasing local purchasing for school cafeterias or childcare settings.
Cooking in the Classroom and Local Food Taste Tests
Farm to school cooking resources – To make cooking in the classroom and taste tests in the cafeteria possible, we offer training resources and recipes.
Publications
Growing Minds Farm to Preschool Toolkit contains all of our preschool resources including lesson plans, “This Week in the Garden: Preschool Edition” activity guides, and “Farm to School Goes Home” parent handouts. It also includes sourcing guidance, tips for cooking and gardening with young children, and Reach for the Stars with Farm to Preschool: Aligning Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale (ECERS-R) and Infant/Toddler Rating Scale (ITERS-R) with Farm to Preschool. The toolkit in English and Spanish can be downloaded for free here.
“I Tried Local…” A Toolkit for Engaging Kids with Local Food and Farms is designed for use in ECE through second grade classrooms. The curriculum is divided into 10 units based on foods grown in North Carolina: blueberries, broccoli, carrots, green beans, mushrooms, peppers, radishes, sugar snap peas, sweet corn, and watermelons. You can move through the units in any order that makes sense based on your growing region, curriculum, or program structure. The toolkit has a plethora of additional resources around how to implement farm to school with gardens, classroom cooking, farm field trips and farmer visits, and local food in meals or snacks. The toolkit can be downloaded for free here.
Growing Minds @ Market (GM@M) Manual is full of local food and farm based children’s activities perfect for the tailgate market setting, community events, and even classrooms! The manual can be downloaded for free here.
View additional Growing Minds & ASAP publications here.
Special Projects
In addition to the resources we provide above for all educators in our region, Growing Minds engages in more in-depth special projects. Our current projects include:
Growing Minds @ Community College (GM@CC) – This project focuses on integrating local food activities and farm to preschool methods into the training of future early childhood educators. This project began with a pilot project in partnership with Blue Ridge Community College, and is now expanding to community colleges throughout North Carolina.
Growing Minds @ University (GM@U) – This project focuses on integrating local food activities and farm to school methods into the training of future education, nutrition, and healthcare professionals. In collaboration with Appalachian State University, Lenoir-Rhyne University, and Western Carolina University, we have made local food and farm to school training part of their Dietetic Internship programs.
Consulting
Our team of consultants brings an in-depth knowledge of local food systems, experience in creating and implementing programs, and a proven ability to successfully manage and evaluate projects of all sizes. We would be happy to speak with you directly about how ASAP can help you build your local food economy and implement a farm to school project.