Decatur Farm to School (DF2S) is a grassroots effort led by parents, teachers, school administrators, community members and organizations. DF2S activities take place in the cafeteria, in the classroom and in the garden. In the cafeteria – local produce of the month, more fresh (and local) fruits and veggies, more cooking from scratch, salad bars at the 4/5 Academy at Fifth Avenue, Renfroe Middle School, and Decatur High School, cooking workshops for kitchen staff. In the classrooms – more than two dozen teachers trained by the Wylde Center to incorporate F2S in their classrooms. In the gardens – all schools have a garden, Wylde Center provides garden education/programming at schools and at Wylde Center, F2S supports these efforts.
Attention Decatur High School Students! We are currently accepting applications for the 2013 Decatur Farm to School Summer Internship Grant.
a bit more info:
Decatur Farm to School (DF2S) is a grassroots effort led by parents, teachers, school administrators, community members and organizations. DF2S activities take place in the cafeteria, in the classroom and in the garden. Recent activities include:
School community:
- DF2S was introduced to teachers and staff at a district-wide professional learning day in January of 2010. Avalon Catering, a local gourmet catering business, worked with the district’s kitchen staff and high school culinary students to prepare and serve a delicious lunch made from fresh locally-sourced foods. Representatives from DF2S spoke to the group, and teachers and staff completed a survey to assess knowledge and interest in Farm to School concepts.
Cafeteria:
- In addition to the traditional lunch line at the middle and high schools, there is a new cafeteria line called “Fast ‘n Fresh” including a salad bar, and either a sandwich station, baked potato bar, or other specialty bar. This line replaces the “a la carte” line at the high school) where nachos, fries and other less healthy items were previously sold). Fries, ice cream and cookies are sold on Fridays only.
- Each month we spotlight one locally grown fresh fruit or vegetable and offer this item once a week on the lunch menu at all schools. “Produce of the month” has included fresh, local watermelon, tomatoes, apples, and greens.
- Volunteers have conducted taste tests of the “produce of the month,” asking students if they liked the new produce items and if they would try them again. Student feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
- In addition to the “Produce of the month,” we buy as much locally grown produce as possible.
- Cooks Warehouse, a local gourmet cooking store and school, has sponsored and led three hands-on cooking workshops for all school nutrition staff. Recipes focus on working with fresh produce, and some of these recipes have been incorporated in the school lunch menu.
Classroom:
- Funded by a Kaiser Permanente grant received by the Decatur Education Foundation, the Wylde Center and Georgia Organics trained more than two dozen Decatur teachers in Farm to School concepts and helped them develop activities and curriculum experiences to bring Farm to School ideas to the classroom. Classroom activities have included taste tests (students taste new menu items, then graph and present data as a math lesson), video production (students wrote and produced a video commercial for vegetables), and studies of worms and compost.
- Activities developed in these teacher trainings are being compiled and shared so that other teachers can incorporate Farm to School concepts in their teaching.
- Students and teachers were able to attend the 2010 Georgia Organics conference funded by the Kaiser Permanente grant.
Gardens:
- All but one of our schools has an on-site school garden, and students participate in gardening activities during the school day. Garden education is organized and provided by the Wylde Center.