QUARTERLY UPDATES
goals, make sure to keep in mind what is attainable for your school and then include both short term and long term goals. Your goals may need to start very small and build up year after year in order to reach your bigger overarching long-term goals. That is completely fine! You always have to start somewhere. Take into account programs your school may already have in place, the demographics of your school, whether the school is urban or rural, what space the school has for any projects, funding possibilities, and what community response and feedback are typically like with programs. When you are making your program goals, make sure you are tapping into your local resources. The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) has a farm to school website where schools can find various resources to help kickstart their planning, including information on procuring local foods, menuing local foods, farm to school celebration ideas, and more! Purdue Extension has community wellness coordinators who are based in each county across the state. They are there to help assist you with farm to school programming and can help connect you with other local contacts or groups. They also can provide information about planting gardens and help assist with writing grants. Indiana Grown for Schools also has a website for schools, with helpful tips about the farm to school planning process. Also, think of other local agriculture groups in your community that may be able to assist in helping you plan out what will be successful in your community and school! plan your garden Make sure you are ready to go when it comes time to begin the seed starting process for an outdoor garden in the late spring/ early summer. Keep in mind some specific
questions for your school as you plan your garden: - What space are you going
to use for the garden? Will it be at one school or multiple schools? - Does the space you want to use get adequate sunlight and rain? - Will students have access to the garden without supervision from teachers? - What kind of student participation will occur with the garden? - What food safety measures need to be implemented to ensure safe food handling with garden grown goods? - Who will take care of the garden when school is not in session, i.e. spring break or summer break?
CONTINUED
47
Powered by FlippingBook