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 collaborated on a USDA Farm to School grant to bring hands-on food education experiences to PreK and Kindergarten students across Newton County.
The partnership connected Small Bites’ Veggie Ready program with 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.
That means 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
The Team!
Erin Croom (Small Bites), Abdul Lindsay (former Newton County School Nutrition Director), Judith Winfrey (Love is Love Cooperative Farm.)
Farm to School is a team effort. In Newton County, each partner played a unique role:
Love is Love Farm → welcomed students to the farm and provided local produce for taste tests
Newton County Schools Nutrition Department → disseminated fresh produce to classrooms for hands-on cooking classes
Newton County Education Foundation → recruited administrators and teachers
Small Bites Adventure Club → provided easy turn-key tools for educators to lead hands-on cooking in the classroom
The Impact of Going All In
FIELD TRIP
Newton County PreK explore Love is Love Cooperative Farm as part of a USDA Farm to School Grant program.
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
And…kids ate 3,984 bites of vegetables!
That last number is especially exciting: nearly 4,000 bites of veggies! And each bit represents a child who said “I tried something new!” and took an important step toward becoming a lifelong food explorer.
The impact goes beyond students, too. Through the Veggie Ready program, educators gained replicable skills and confidence in leading hands-on food education, helping make these experiences sustainable beyond a single lesson or field trip.
Meet Ms. Obando, both a teacher and parent at Porterdale Elementary School, who taught the Veggie Ready program to her Kindergarten class. At the same time, her own daughter graduated from the Veggie Ready program with her PreK peers. She shared, “The exposure [to new foods] was amazing. It feels great as a teacher to be able to show students new things and make it fun without it being overwhelming for me or for them! Having [my daughter] try foods without mommy is amazing because she is so much more likely to try them.”
CELEBRATING AT THE FARM
Gail Rothman- Newton County Education Foundation, Judith Winfrey- Love is Love Cooperative Farm, Marion Gee and Tanesha Baker- Newton County Schools Nutrition, Laney Rylant and Erin Croom- Small Bites Adventure Club.
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, fruits and vegetables become hands-on learning experiences, a connection to local agriculture, and an opportunity for kids to discover their new favorite food!
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!
