May 2024
Hello Farm to Fork Friends!
We're excited to share that our team has wrapped up our Movement Building Workshops for the year, culminating in a weekend at Boulder Mountain Guest Ranch. There, we explored regenerative farming practices, deepening our commitment to sustainability. Learn more about our partnership and its impact here!
We've also concluded our first annual Raising the Steaks promotion! Take a look at our successes below, and stay tuned for highlights from those who joined in the celebration across the state.
What to Harvest This Month
Once the final frost threat has passed, it's time to plant your warm-season vegetables and annual flowers. Check the average dates for the first and last frosts in your area to ensure optimal timing. Strawberries are among the earliest perennials to bear fruit. Consider serving up a delicious batch of our unique Strawberry Bread Harvest of the Season recipe in your cafeteria this month.
Get Involved!
Squash Summer Hunger | Registration opens June 1st!
As June approaches, we're gearing up for our second Annual Promotion of the year: Squash Summer Hunger! This engaging event aims to raise awareness about summer meals programs and make the most of the abundance of squash during the summer months. Each year during the last week of June, we invite Utah kids and families to visit a summer meal site and join us in celebrating the versatility of summer squash. Squash Summer Hunger is not only a fantastic way to embrace delicious local produce but also an opportunity to educate kids about the origins of their food and show support for local farmers.
It’s not too late to start planning! Download the Toolkit today!
USDA Announces Final Updates to the School Nutrition Standards
Last week, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service announced the updated nutrition standards for schools, early care and education sites, and out of school programs. The new rules contain major wins for farm to school, including a measure to simplify local purchasing.
Under the new rules, child nutrition programs will now be able to use “locally grown,” “locally raised,” or “locally caught” as a specific requirement for unprocessed or minimally processed food items. Basically, this removes a lot of the complexity that child nutrition programs had to navigate in order to purchase local food. School cafeterias and child care programs can now purchase local foods more easily!
Visit the USDA website to learn more about the Final Rule and other updates to the child nutrition standards.
Resources and Trainings
Child Nutrition Programs Final Rule: Updates to the CACFP & SFSP Meal Patterns | Thursday, May 16 | 12:00 PM MT | Register here!
Join us for a webinar with USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) as they provide an overview of the Child Nutrition Programs Final Rule: Updates to the CACFP & SFSP Meal Patterns.
Can't make it to the live session? Register anyway to receive the recording and watch on demand!
Supporting Trans & Gender Non-Conforming Youth in the Garden | Wednesday, May 22 | 12:00 PM MT | Register here!
Gender expansive youth represent a growing demographic of students who utilize school gardens and outdoor classrooms. In spite of this, many programs continue to be built around traditional gender roles, from introducing classes as "Ladies and Gentlemen" to the ways that educators discuss the plants and animals in the garden. This webinar will provide research, resources, and information on ways to support Transgender and Gender Nonconforming (TGNC) youth in outdoor spaces. Starting from basic adjustments to everyday language, we will expand to challenge ourselves to create more accepting, welcoming spaces and lessons for our students.
Conference Opportunities:
ASPHN's 2024 Farm to Early Care and Education Convening | June 11-13, 2024 in Minneapolis, MN
2024 Native Youth in Food and Agriculture Leadership Summit | July 15-23, 2024 at University of Arkansas
Resources:
Rural Health Network's Farm to ECE Outreach Materials - The first resource is state/national as well as local guides for Gardening with ECE Students. The second resource is title "What's Next? Starting your Farm to ECE Program", and there are state/national as well as local guides for this resource as well.
Eating Learning Growing: A Delicious Guide to Culturally Relevant Farm to School Education - This resource embodies Center for Ecoliteracy's core principle — Nature Is Our Teacher — by sharing how diversity, including diversity in human communities, is a foundation for healthy patterns of living and a healthier planet. It provides a framework, activities, and reflections that help educators enhance farm to school lessons to make them more culturally relevant and celebrate fruits and vegetables.
Food Justice
Wasatch Community Gardens' Spring Plant Sale | 8:00 AM - 1:00 PM | Saturday, May 11 | Learn more here!
We know there are plenty of local plant sales this time of year. Why shop at WCG's sale? Their sale features more than 45,000 food-growing plants raised from seed by participants of our farm-based Job Training Program serving women facing homelessness. These seedlings are grown with the utmost care at our certified organic Green Phoenix Farm.
Job Opportunities
Pilot Light Fellowship | Apply here | Due May 27th
Pilot Light seeks highly motivated Pre-K through 12th grade teachers across the country with an interest in connecting to their students and communities through implementing Pilot Light Food Education lessons consistently in their classrooms to apply to the Food Education Fellowship! This is a paid opportunity, detailed here.
Utah Farmers Market Network Director | Apply here | Remote
This is a part-time position (up to 20 hours per week) through Utah State University (USU) at a rate of $29 an hour, funded through the United States Department of Agriculture Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program (USDA FMPP), ending December 2025. The position start date is May 13, 2024, with flexibility for a June start date depending on the final candidate’s schedule. The search committee includes representatives from USU Extension and Utah farmers’ market managers.
Substitute Cooks | Davis School District | Apply here | Open until filled
Davis School District Nutrition Services is looking for positive, hard-working people to help us feed kids! The job consists of preparing meals, serving kids, and cleaning up afterwards.
Do you have a farm to fork job opportunity you'd like us to share? Let us know! Jobs must be located in Utah or fully remote.
Funding Opportunities
Local Food Microgrant Program | Apply by May 8th | Apply here!
Urban Food Connections of Utah is pleased to offer a limited number of microgrant opportunities for existing commercial farming establishments dedicated primarily to the production of fruits and vegetables using ecologically sustainable agricultural methods. The intent of the Local Food Microgrant Program is to increase the amount and diversity of sustainably grown produce available to Utahns receiving SNAP benefits by assisting local small farmers to access technology, education, tools and equipment to support more sustainable growing practices.
Over 11 grant cycles, more than $200,000 has been distributed to Utah farmers. The minimum request is $500, and the maximum grant request is $5,000.
Newman’s Own - Food Justice for Kids Prize | Apply by June 11 | Learn more!
Is your organization working towards food justice for kids in the United States? If so, this is your chance to receive up to $100,000 in grant funding over the next 2 years and deepen your impact! Apply by June 11, 2024, at one of the links below.
They’re seeking applications from organizations working in two priority program areas:
(1) Indigenous Food Justice (Apply here) and
(2) Nutrition Education and School Food (Apply here)
We welcome applications from all eligible organizations, and in particular seek to be inclusive of organizations led by and/or representing historically marginalized and under-represented groups, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).
Keep reading for more info and FAQS.
Clif Family Foundation Operational Grants | Apply by August 1 | Apply here!
Grants are awarded annually for general operational support as well as for specific projects. Priority is given to applicants that address two or more of our funding priorities at the same time:
Strengthen our food system
Enhance equitable community health outcomes
Safeguard our environment and natural resources
Demonstrate strong community ties.
Operate within viable and clearly defined plans for positive change.
You'll hear from us again next month. In the meantime, we'd love to hear from you!
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