Field Trips and Short Courses will be offered on Thursday, March 19.
Short Courses
Shaking the Federal Money Tree: Grantwriting to Support Farm to Cafeteria
8:30 am – 2:00 pm (lunch included)
This interactive short course will cover 1) designing sound projects; 2) identifying possible sources of funding for your work; and 3) fundamentals of successful grantwriting. We will provide handouts, the guide to federal programs, “Building Better Rural Places,” and examples illustrating key points. We will review an actual proposal and discuss participants’ proposal ideas.
Margaret Krome, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute
Coordinating Research and Evaluation Efforts to Strengthen Farm to School and School Garden Programs, Practices and Policies
8:30 am – 12:30 pm (does not include lunch)
As the farm to school and school garden movements professionalize and institutionalize, rigorous qualitative and quantitative research is needed to inform best practices, programs, and policies. The goal of this short course is to catalyze a national collaboration between academics, advocates and practitioners to leverage existing resources and start to develop a coordinated research agenda for the farm to school and school garden movements.
Michelle Markesteyn Ratcliffe, Ecotrust; Western Lead Agency for the National Farm to School Network; Gail Feenstra, University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program; Anupama Joshi, National Farm to School Network; Phyllis L. Fleming, University of North Carolina Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
Organizing Farm to School Statewide: Collaboration Models for Program, Policy, and Success of Scale
8:00 am – 2:00 pm (lunch included)
As farm to school programs multiply, the need for statewide collaboration for effective programming, policy, and unity of message grows. In this short course, existing models for state-level organizing will be shared and participants will actively engage in group discussions and brainstorming about the role, function and future of successful cooperation. Speakers from California, Washington, Michigan, Maryland, Iowa, Maine and Vermont will share their experiences and help guide the dialogue. Lunch provided.
Moira Beery, Center for Food and Justice, Occidental College, CA; Beth Feehan, NJ Farm to School Group; Tegan Hagy, the Food Trust, PA; Dana Hudson, Vermont FEED; Colleen Matts, CS Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems, MI; Erin McDougall, Public Health - Seattle & King County, WA; Ken Morse, Healthy Oxford Hills, Maine; Abbie Nelson, Vermont FEED; Jane Storrs, MD Dept of Agriculture;
Field Trips
Agricultural Education – Remaking the Rural-Urban Connection*
8:30 am – 12:30 pm (does not include lunch) * This field trip is full as of 3/3/09.
Visit three distinct farm sites in and around Portland providing agricultural education opportunities for area schools, youth and families, connecting classroom & cafeteria learning with fieldscale agriculture: Zenger Farm, Learning Gardens Lab and Sauvie Island Center. See first hand sensory gardens, crop extending greenhouses, chickens, bees, worms, children’s gardens, wetlands and more. Remember to wear comfortable shoes and warm layers for touring the fields!
Food Incubation & Processing – How Local Food Innovation is Supporting Schools*
8:15 am – 1:00 pm (lunch included)
* This field trip is full as of 2/19/09.
Follow school food along the processing chain from farm to culinary center to lunchline. Wildwood Chef and Founder Cory Schreiber, now the state’s first Farm to School Coordinator for the Oregon Dept. of Agriculture will give us a tour of the Food Innovation Center where Oregon agricultural products are developed and consumer tested for inclusion in both the marketplace and the schools. We will also drive through apple orchards and rural Oregon to visit Gervais School District where they are piloting Local Lunches in the cafeteria and meet the farmers supplying the district. Finally we will visit the Truitt Brothers food processing facility and share a meal while learning their story of local and sustainable processing for the schools.
Farm to School in Portland – Linking Classroom, Cafeteria & Community*
8:00 am – 12:30 pm (lunch included)
* This field trip is full as of 2/2/09.
Join us for lunch from the Abernethy Scratch Kitchen, pilot project of the Portland Public School District (PPS) testing new recipes and linking garden education to the cafeteria and classroom through the Garden of Wonders project. Also visit Hilltop Farm in Troutdale, Oregon and New Seasons Market, both partners in the Harvest of the Month and Local Lunches programs supplying local produce to the schools. Local panelists include members of Ecotrust’s Food and Farms Program, PPS Nutrition Services and Eat.Think.Grow Coalition. See how Portland’s broader community is working together to implement change!
Farm to Institution – Building the Local and Sustainable Food & Farm Network*
9:00 am – 12:30 pm (lunch included)
* This field trip is full as of 2/25/09.
Come with us as we follow the food supply chain from farm to certifier to distributor to cafeteria. Visit with Food Alliance certified farmer Ambrose Calcagno of Cal Farms while touring Duck Delivery, a Food Alliance certified produce distributor in Northeast Portland. Then follow that produce to the University of Portland dining hall where Bon Apetit serves breakfast, lunch and dinner to 2,200 students daily. Have lunch while hearing how Food Alliance, Bon Apetit and local farmers, food suppliers and distributors are making local, sustainable food from scratch for thousands of people a daily reality.
