Farm ➡️ Classroom and Back Again
How a Whole County Came Together to Get Kids Excited About Fresh Food
What happens when a whole county goes all in on Farm to School? You get teachers leading hands-on cooking classes, students tasting new vegetables, local farmers opening their fields to classrooms… resulting in nearly 1,000 children learning about where their food comes from.
Over the past two years, Newton County School District, Newton County Education Foundation, Love is Love Farm, and Small Bites Adventure Club came together through a USDA Farm to School grant to bring hands-on food education experiences to PreK and Kindergarten students across Newton County.
The partnership brought Small Bites’ Veggie Ready program into Newton County PreK and Kindergarten classrooms, giving teachers five months of turn-key, hands-on food education lessons that culminated in an in-person field trip to Love is Love Farm, a farm right here in Newton County.
Students didn’t just learn about food… they tasted it, cooked it, explored it, and saw where it grows.
The Farm to School to Small Bites Connection
Making Farm to School is a team effort! In Newton County, each partner brought something different to the table.
Erin Croom (Small Bites), Abdul Lindsay (former Newton County School Nutrition Director), Judith Winfrey (Love is Love Cooperative Farm.)
Love is Love Farm → welcomed students to the farm and connecting them to local agriculture
Newton County Schools → brought farm-to-school experiences to students & into the classroom
Small Bites Adventure Club → gave educators the tools to turn fresh food into hands-on learning
Kids → tasted, explored, cooked, and adventured with fresh food
The Impact of Going All In
IMPACT
When a whole community invests in helping kids build a connection to fresh, local food, the impact adds up!
Together, the program reached:
996 students
55 classrooms
26 educators trained
3,984 bites of local vegetables
That last number is especially exciting: nearly 4,000 opportunities for children to taste and try vegetables they may not otherwise have encountered!
And every bite represents more than a number. It represents a child who was given the opportunity to say, “I tried it!” and take an important step toward becoming a lifelong food explorer.
The impact goes beyond students, too. Through Veggie Ready, educators gained replicable skills and confidence in leading hands-on food education activities, helping make these experiences sustainable beyond a single lesson or field trip.
As one Newton County educator shared:
“The exposure and everything is amazing. It feels great as a teacher to be able to show them new things and make it fun without it being overwhelming for me or for them.” – Ms. Obando; Porterdale Elementary School
A Model for What’s Possible
Newton County shows us what can happen when a whole community goes all in for Farm to School.
When schools, farmers, educators, nonprofits, and families work together, fresh food becomes more than something on a lunch tray. It becomes a hands-on learning experience, a connection to local agriculture, and an opportunity for kids to discover something new.
That’s the power of Farm to School: bringing the farm into the classroom, the classroom to the farm, and a whole community along for the journey.
October is Farm to School Month
Celebrate Farm to School Month with Small Bites! Registration is open for our free Farm to School Month activity, Lovely Lettuce with Lemony Vinaigrette! Signing up unlocks exclusive resources to bring hands-on food education into your classroom, plus the opportunity to register for a live virtual read-aloud with children's author Katherine Pryor!
