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2021 NC Farm to ECE Survey Results

The NC Farm to Preschool Network (NCF2PN) launched the 2021 North Carolina Farm to Early Care and Education Survey in January 2021. We heard from 656 respondents, representing 83 of North Carolina’s 100 counties. Childcare providers shared their current farm to early care and education (ECE) initiatives, including motivations for participation and challenges to starting

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Educator Spotlight: Tony Norcia, Dietetic Intern

Tony Norcia is a dietetic intern at Lenoir-Rhyne University. Lenoir-Rhyne is a partner in ASAP’s Growing Minds @ University program, which equips pre-service students with knowledge and experiences to be able to incorporate local food and farm to school/farm to preschool activities into their careers as dietitians. Tony is currently completing a 12-week Community Nutrition and Administration rotation at Bearwallow Valley Farms with farmer/owner and registered dietitian Nicole Coston (who we’ve profiled in a past farm to school educator spotlight).

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Meet Your Farmer: Two Trees Farm

Join eight year old junior farmer Lyra for a tour of her family’s farm in Haywood County, NC. Two Trees Farm (home of the Sustainabillies, aka Lyra and her parents Sara and Dustin) is a sustainable homestead focused on supporting a healthy, diverse ecosystem while also growing food.

From picking blueberries and tasting garden-grown lettuce, to polliwogging for tadpoles and digging for worms, Lyra shares with other kids what it’s like to live on a small farm in the Appalachian Mountains.

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Meet Your Farmer: TK Family Farm

Ever wondered how apples are grown in Western North Carolina? Join Natalie, Rylie, and JJ–the junior farmers at TK Family Farm in Rutherfordton, NC–for a kid’s perspective on growing apples and living on a farm. Hear about how farmers like the Klimstra family help to take care of their land, along with how apples are planted, grown, and processed for sale. JJ also shares his favorite things to do on the farm, plus tips for buying apples at the family’s self-serve farm stand!

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Farm to Keiki: Cooking, Gardening and Nutrition with Children

By Kamen, Tiana

This book makes it easy to teach children gardening, nutrition and cooking with fresh, Hawai’i grown foods. While originally written for Hawaii’s pk-3rd grade teachers, the information can be adapted for any age group or educational setting (school and home) anywhere in the world! Learn more and purchase this book here.  Learn to Teach Children:​​

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The Little Gardener

By Hughes, Emily

A fairy tale about a tiny gardener who works very hard to clear his yard of enormous weeds and litter, only to find himself overwhelmed. This story teaches us just how important it is to persist and try, no matter what the odds. 

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Ghosts for Breakfast

By Shinjo, Shelly; Terasaki, Stanley

When the Troublesome Triplets–Mr. Omi, Mr. Omaye, and Mr. Ono–complain that they have seen ghosts in Farmer Tanaka’s field, Papa sets off with his son to hunt the ghosts. Set in California in the 1920s, this delightful father-son story speaks to all young children who yearn to overcome their fears. Readers also come to realize

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Side by Side / Lado a lado

By Cepeda, Joe; Brown, Monica

The Story of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez / La historia de Dolores Huerta y Cesar Chavez Every day, thousands of farmworkers harvested the food that ended up on kitchen tables all over the country. But at the end of the day, when the workers sat down to eat, there were only beans on their

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First Day in the Grapes

By Perez, L.; Casilla, Robert

All year long Chico and his family move up and down the state of California picking fruits and vegetables. Every September they pick grapes and Chico starts at a new school again. Often other children pick on him – maybe because he is always new or maybe because he speaks Spanish sometimes. Chico’s first day

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