Useful Sources and Structures
for Edible Education & Farm-School Programs
LOCAL
• Global Source Education – EduCulture Project
Their EduCulture Project is dedicated to connecting classroom and community on Bainbridge Island through scholarship, stewardship, citizenship and sustainability. Their programs partner Bainbridge Island farms, schools, and families in an effort to teach and learn about farm stewardship and food citizenship. The result is enhanced educational opportunities, and locally grown food that will be served in their schools and to the larger community. Global Source is currently partnered with Wilkes Elementary School in an ongoing project that pairs master farmers with students to grow food on a plot of the Morales Farm, located on Highway 305 and Lovgreen Road. The EduCulture Project at Global Source Education is an independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization serving elementary and secondary education in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
• Friends of the Farms
The trust for Working Landscapes is a non-profit organization based on Bainbridge Island that works to promote farming and farmland preservation. They currently manage 60 acres of Public Farmland on Bainbridge, and host a variety of events on that land to promote local agriculture. They do farm work parties to maintain and improve those lands for the benefit of the community, they host events to increase public awareness of the farms and to offer the community an opportunity for education and recreation in a farm setting, they put on the annual Harvest Fair every fall at the Johnson Farm, and they work with landowners and farmers to facilitate collaborative land-use agreements. Visit their website for upcoming events, suggested readings, and the latest with Public Farmland on the island.
REGIONAL
• Kitsap Food and Farm Policy Council - Kitsap County Board of Commissioners
The Kitsap Food and Farm Policy Council was created in January 2010 to promote a local and sustainable food system. The Council is the core of the Kitsap Food Chain project funded for three years through a federal Energy Efficient Community Block Grant. The Council brings together representatives from communities, businesses, education, agriculture and government to coordinate a sustainable food system. During their first meeting the Council identified five initial areas of attention to increase food production and to facilitate better consumer information connections. Those five areas are: education, infrastructure, policy, networking, and eliminate waste. More information about these five areas, the efforts of the Council, and resources can be found on their website.
• Washington State Department of Agriculture – Farm to School
The WSDA Farm to School Program was created by the Washington State Legislature as part of the Local-Farms, Healthy Kids Act of 2008. It is working to connect Washington farms and schools for healthy food service and agricultural education. Program services for schools include help identifying local farms and Washington products that meet foodservice needs, educational resources on food, farming, health, and the environment, model district and school policies that support healthy, local foods and garden projects, planning and problem-solving for specific programs and a listserv for sharing methods. Program services for farms include outreach, introductions, and assistance in selling to school buyers, either directly or through existing supply chains, and working in partnership with farms and organizations around the state to explore options for processing and distribution.
• State Superintendent of Public Instruction – Washington State K-12 Integrated Environmental and Sustainability Learning Standards
The standards, created in September 2009, describe what all students should know and be able to do in the are of Environmental and Sustainability Education, and are intended to be integrated into the core content areas and across all grade levels of Washington State K-12 education. Washington State has identified three broad standards that are specific to Environmental and Sustainability Education, but unlike core content standards in Washington, these standards do not include specific grade level expectations. Instead, they include an alignment of the Integrated Environmental and Sustainability Learning Standards with the Washington K-12 science and social studies standards. These new standards also serve as a meaningful and engaging context for mathematics, reading, writing, communications, the arts, health and fitness, and world languages.
• Washington Center for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Education – Curriculum for the Bioregion
"Curriculum for the Bioregion" is an initiative of the Washington Center that aims to better prepare undergraduates to live in a world where the complex issues of environmental quality, environmental justice, and sustainability are paramount. This faculty and curriculum development project is based on two ideas: local environmental knowledge is the basis for understanding the larger issues of global change, and within this framework of global change, experiential learning in local places has lasting meaning. Bioregions are, literally, "life places" - places characterized by the interrelated natural and social systems upon which we rely for our well-being. Situating learning in our bioregion would mean connecting students with the immediacy and significance of what is happening here, linking classroom theory to local places, people, and practices. Creating curriculum for the bioregion implies that we prepare our students for a locally rooted citizenship that will ensure healthy communities, economies, and ecosystems. They see "curriculum for the bioregion" not as a single, "add-on" course. Rather, they envision a collection of teaching approaches that could be used in existing courses and that engage students with the issues facing the bioregion.
NATIONAL
• National Farm to School Network
The network is a program of the Community Good Security Coalition that connects farmers to schools in order to provide healthy, fresh food to children and new markets to farmers. The National Farm to School Network sprouted from this desire to support community-based food systems, strengthen family farms, and improve student health by reducing childhood obesity. Eight regional lead agencies and national staff provide free training and technical assistance, information services, networking, and support for policy, media and marketing activities. Farm to School is a comprehensive program that extends beyond farm fresh salad bars and local foods in the cafeteria to include waste management programs like composting, and experiential education opportunities such as planting school gardens, cooking demonstrations and farm tours. The Farm to School approach helps children understand where their food comes from and how their food choices impact their bodies, the environment and their communities at large.
• Center for Ecoliteracy
The Center for Ecoliteracy is a leader in the green schooling movement. Their framework and services for schooling for sustainability, Smart by Nature, is based on two decades of work with school and organizations in over 400 communities across the United States and other countries. The center is best known for its work with school gardens, school lunches, and integrating ecological principles and sustainability into school curricula. They offer books, teaching guides, professional development seminars, a sustainability leadership academy, keynote presentations, and consulting services. In addition, their website offers a plethora of downloadable resource materials, including practical guides, essays by leading writers and experts, and inspiring stories of school communities and organizations across the country.
• National School Lunch Program Background and Development
