Hello Farm to Fork Friends!
Happy June! Don’t forget to join us for Squash Summer Hunger the last week of this month! You can find local summer squash producers, instructions on growing your own squash, and a complete event toolkit on our website. Some schools and centers are also hosting their own Farm Fresh Summer events – be sure to let us know if you are hosting an event and tag us on social media @utfarm2fork (Instagram) and @UtahFarm2Fork (Facebook). Learn more about Farm Fresh Summer here.
What to Harvest this Month
Summer squash of course! June is also a great time to harvest basil, green onions, new potatoes, peas, and squash blossoms. Find recipes for these great items at https://www.utfarmtofork.org/harvest-of-the-season.
Get Involved!
Guiding our Growth
Interested in the impacts of population growth in Utah? Want to make sure your voice is part of the conversation about your community's future? Take the new Guiding Our Growth survey at guidingourgrowth.utah.gov. This is a great chance to be an advocate for agricultural land preservation and strong local food systems. Taking the survey also enters you for a chance to win prizes like Amazon gift cards and Lagoon passes.
Apply for Enhanced Reimbursement
If you operate the National School Lunch Program and served minimally processed Utah-grown food in your meals during the 2022-2023 school year, you qualify for extra per-meal reimbursement. Submit your application for enhanced reimbursement here by June 30th, 2023. To learn more about the enhanced reimbursement program, visit www.utfarmtofork.org/local-procurement.
Squash Summer Hunger
Each year during the last week of June, childcare centers, summer meal sites, activity centers, and workplaces join together to celebrate our abundance of zucchini and other summer squash. If you’ve done Apple Crunch in the past, this is a great way to take the next step with farm to fork. If you’ve never done anything with farm to fork, this is a first step! Register and find our full toolkit (along with information about a social media contest) here.
Webinars and Trainings
Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education
What is Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education (CRSE), and how can we apply this CRSE approach in school garden education? In this one-hour recorded webinar, learn from Denita White, Manager of Equity Content for Tulsa Public Schools as she shares real-life examples from students and teachers. Watch the recording and access the slide deck here.
Food Justice
Recognizing Indigenous Ecological Knowledge
Our current dominant food system in North America, characterized by consolidation of power and control, is directly connected to the colonial patterns that have been practiced here for hundreds of years. These practices have othered and oppressed indigenous peoples with devastating impacts on their wellbeing. The process of “settling” this continent involved theft of land, violence against people and the suppression of traditional foodways and other aspects of indigenous cultures. Today, Indigenous farmworkers often have access to traditional ecological knowledge passed down through millennia — about how to live in right relationship with the land, water and one another — but lack the power to steward and heal the land. Click here to read how some Indigenous grape harvesters are organizing to make change.
Job Opportunities
Summer Garden Educator, Summit Community Gardens +EATS, Summit County
The Summer Garden Educator is primarily responsible for working with the Director of Education in supporting and expanding the youth education programs, including summer camps, and summer garden events. The Summer Garden Educator will be expected to be onsite for all youth camps and activities. The position requires strong leadership skills, self-motivation, and a passion for teaching youth about gardening, environment, and natural earth cycles. Through this position, you will have the opportunity to learn about organic farming practice, outdoor education, sustainable food production, and professional non-profit work through hands-on experience. Learn more and apply here.
Livestock Program Coordinator, USU Extension, Hurricane
Utah State University Extension invites applications for a 4-H Youth Horse and Livestock Program Coordinator (Program Coordinator I) in Washington County. This is a full-time benefited position. The 4-H Youth Horse and Livestock Program Coordinator is responsible for the planning, implementation, and evaluation of educational and recreational programs related to equine and livestock education for youth in Washington County.
This position requires basic knowledge of junior livestock youth programs, and equestrian programing. Other responsibilities will include coordinating the Washington County Fair’s Animal Education Center, Color Country Natural Resource Camp, Farm Field Days, and volunteer recruitment and management. We welcome candidates with diverse interests and experience related to any variety of these areas. Learn more and apply here.
Funding Opportunities
LeRay McAllister Working Farm and Ranch Fund
The LeRay McAllister Working Farm and Ranch Fund provides grants to preserve or restore critical open land or agricultural land in Utah. Eligible applicants are counties, cities, towns, the Utah Department of Natural Resources, other Utah Agencies, Land Trusts, and charitable organizations that qualify as tax exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Applications will be accepted starting June 1, 2023. Learn more and apply here.
Local Meat Capacity Grants
AMS is accepting applications for the fiscal year 2023 Local Meat Capacity Grants (Local MCap). This program supports independently owned meat and poultry processing businesses with funds to provide more and better processing options for local livestock producers by modernizing, increasing, diversifying and decentralizing meat and poultry processing capacity, including support for rendering.
Processing Expansion Projects will fund grants from $100,000 up to $5 million to increase the processing and/or rendering capacity of privately, cooperatively, non-profit, or Tribally held processing facilities as described in this RFA.
Simplified Equipment-Only Projects offer a simplified application to fund smaller grants between $10,000 and $250,000 for equipment purchases for meat and poultry processors. Applications are due July 19, 2023. Learn more here.
Be sure to share your upcoming events, grant opportunities, and jobs with us so that we can share them here!
