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Child Nutrition Services
23 State House Station Augusta, ME 04333-0023
(207)624-6842
Fax (207)624-6841

JOIN the FARM to SCHOOL list serve today!

 

USDA Farm to school request for assistance

USDA Site visit info

What districts are doing:

Farm to School

Maine Harvest Lunch

have School Gardens?

 

 

 

 

 

 

MAINE HARVEST DAY "MAINE"

WHEN: Week of SEPTEMBER 14TH 2009

WHERE:  AT YOUR SCHOOL

This year it should become a little smoother for you then prior years.  Schools already had established some contacts and have been using them all school year.  Harvest lunch week spreads it out for ease of operations for schools and Maine Producers. Over the week a Maine product should offered daily for Maine Harvest Week.

Do not forget the purpose of the event:
1.  Establish contacts/relationships with Maine producers for future days.
This could be an ongoing partnership with Maine producers.  It would provide a good source of food and an outlet for the Maine producer’s product.

2.  Make students aware of Maine products on an on going bias
Some students think green beans come from a can.  Actual knowledge that product is from a bush, tree or root may not be understood.  They may not be aware what is actually produced in Maine.  How the food is prepared or eaten is part of the education.  Feed the student Maine products, educates the parent about Maine products.

3.  Support your community/ local producers.
With all the talk about consolation and schools fearing losing local control, what better way to demonstrate local support and local control of the food service department?  Buy locally

 

Do not forget about the fishing industry and all the products available.

REMEMBER
The cafeteria/ dining room is the biggest classroom in the school!!!

Bee Keeper, Sandi Clark Geogretown School

 

 

Many resources at the bottom of this page!

 

Maine Harvest 2009

When will it be? week of Sept 14th

What will be different more schools and Maine producers involved

 

What Can I do?

This day can have several parts. It can be as simple or as large as the district desires. Many districts have included teachers, administrators, health coordinators, nurses and local producers. This should be a school event.

A list of some items:

classroom activities Ag in the classroom

students helping to prepare menu items

parent community volunteers included in activities

tractors on display

local farmers acknowledged, honored

field trips prior to day

student taste testing to develop the menu prior to the event

introduce new items for students to taste on the day of event.

garden displays

table tents with facts about Maine products/Farmers

Maine Salad Bar

What kind of Items Can I Use for Maine Harvest Lunch Day

Do not forget land and sea. Here is a partial list of items submitted to us.

Broccoli	Beef
Carrots	Chicken
Corn	Goat
Cucumber	Pork
Lettuce	Turkey
Mushrooms	Eggs
Peas	Cheese
Onions
Peppers	Seafood
Zucchini	Haddock
Potatoes	Sea Lettuce
Spinach	Dulce
Pumpkin	Sea Chips
Squash	Kelp
Tomatoes	Salmon (farm raised))
Apples
Pears	Bagels
Strawberries	Bread
Cranberries	Flour
Cherries
Raspberries	Herbs
Blueberries
	Milk
	Honey
	Maple Products

Why Promote Maine Products

Estimated importing food from out of state typically requires 17 times more petroleum compared to purchasing locally

Product is fresher

better taste

fresh products mean maximum nutrient value

supports local business and taxes

considered an important method to address childhood obesity

education about products

not usually processed therefore no added salt or sugars

where the product was grown is known

advertise local businesses

increases physical activities

Obstacles

 

Cost Cost is sometimes an issue, but purchasers must look at the yield of a product. Also the farmer you purchased from is your neighbor who pays taxes and supports your school. The farmer may be able to provide other useful parts to the school.

Transportation Getting the product to your kitchens has been a problem in the past. Farmers and distributors are aware of this and options have been put in place or being worked on.

What about the classroom and teaching staff?

Maine Agriculture in the Classroom has nice lesson called "Lunchtime Favorites" using a Venn Diagram that can be used for K - 12 with increasing complexity. It traces the source of foods to plant, animal or other (mineral, fungus, fermented products, yeast, etc.) That is available to teachers? Contact:

Willie Sawyer Grenier

Maine Agriculture in the Classroom Assn.
28 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333
(207) 287-5522, Fax 287-7548

maitca@maine.gov

 

Questions

When did it start?

     The Maine Harvest Lunch was resurrected School 2005 as a statewide event.  It was dropped in the late 90s     when budget cuts eliminated 50% of the state office Child Nutrition staff.

Can a School buy locally and not from a major from a supplier?

     YES  support your community and feed students good quality products

Can a School use donations from local farmers or others?.

     YES and say thank You for the support to the food service program

Where the farms are located?

     People are surprised how many small farms are in Maine.  Look around, go to farmers market contact dept of agriculture.

Does the farm need to be inspected?

     NO  Inspection is not required.  the school must know where the product came from.  Basically use common sense

Can I use the school garden even though it is unattended?

     YES commercial fields are not guarded no matter what size.  Absolutely use the fresh product from the school gardens

What if I get only 50% of the product I need?

     Use what you can where you can. 

Will the product is not useable state . 

     Maybe not small farmers may not have all the machinery needed to prep products.  It may take some skill and labor. 

The school does not have staff to complete the task.

     Many schools recruited volunteers to assist.  Get the community involved.

 

THE THREE

COST:  Yes it may cost more.  Keep in mind competitively shop when possible Look at yields and quality of fresh product what are you throwing out on product purchased from your supplier and what are you saving on local products.  This year you can give geographic preference in your purchasing.  Trade off acknowledge producer advertise for them. 

DELIVERY:  there have been several ideas on this issue.  Bottom line; think out of the box, it is a community event.  There is always the good old pick it up.  Other options include district buses, district mail run, teachers that go between schools and volunteers

QUANTITY: Get what you can use what you have.  You could do only one school at a time.  Supplement local and other.  Plan in advance and get the provider to agree ahead of time.

REMEMBER
THE CAFERTERIA IS THE BIGGEST CLASSROOM!!!!

 

THE LIFE OF SCHOOL FOOD SERVICE FOOD PRESENTLY

Purchased from distributor at a cost

Prepared by Food Service Staff

Severed by staff to customers

Consumed by customers

Tray waste into trash cans hauled to landfill at a cost

 

WHAT IF IT WAS

Products grown locally or from our shores

Purchase products locally at a cost.  This puts dollars back into the community and shows community support.

Purchased remaining products from distributor at a cost.  would;d be less to purchase.

Prepared by Food Service Staff. No change here.

Severed by Food Service staff to customers history tells us sales increase when purchasing locally therefore reducing the cost per meal.

publicize local purchasing.  promote the fact buy locally where you know where the product came from.

Consumed by customers Expect an increase in sales.

Food tray waste into compost bucket for farmer or school garden.  no cost here but a cost saving less hauled to landfill.

Other items in trash cans hauled to landfill at a cost Now  reduced cost because er the weight of compost items has been used for composting.

Compost used in garden that will create more Maine products

OTHER THOUGHTS

Can the compost be a money maker?

What about selling seeds?

Can excess from the school garden go to a school farm stand?

Other Resources:

Resource Guide listing local farmers that will present to or host school groups.

National Farm to School Web Page

Maine Farm to School List Serve

YES Maine school food service programs can buy local products. This is a great plan to support the local communities. Several Districts are already doing this. some have a garden. there is a lot of confusion on the buying local and using geographic preference. This is not allowed under the current regulations. The Harrison Institute Report does not agree with USDA Food and Nutrition Services interpretation of the regulation. The FNS letter is pretty clear.

Vermont Feed has recipes on their web page. The squash soup is very good.

Maine Organic Farmers and Gardner's Association (MOFGA)

Cheryl Wixson Organic Marketing Consultant of MOFGA, has agreed to work with schools in development of some ideas and recipes.

Farm to School Blog Some Farm to School can be found on this blog. It is not a !00% Farm to school at this time.

Gorham School Department's Maine Harvest Lunch group have posted all of our resources on Maine SFA web page so anyone can use our documents and just do a name change from "Gorham" to their own. more questions contact:

Ronald Adams, SNS
Director, Gorham School Nutrition
President, Maine School Food Service Association
207-222-1375
207-839-4092 fax

Western Mountains Alliance This site has PDF booklet of farm stands in Franklin and Somerset County, information on green house and other interesting information.

Harrison Institute report and USDA with Questions and answers.

MAINE SCHOOL DISTRICTS PARTICAPTING IN
MAINE HARVST LUNCH
at some degree and sometime
District Name and/or general area	Harvest Lunch	Farm to School	School Gardens
Acton School Department
Airline Csd
Alexander School Department
Aos 93 - Clcss Bristol	YES	YES	YES
Appleton School Department
Arthur R. Gould Sch--Lcydc
Auburn School Department	YES
Augusta Public Schools	no	yes
Baileyville School Department
Bangor School Department	YES	YES
Bar Harbor School Department	YES
Beals School Department
Becket Family Of Services
Biddeford School Department
Blue Hill School Department
Boothbay-Boothbay Hbr Csd	YES	YES
Brewer School Department
Brooklin School Department	YES	YES	YES
Brooksville School Department
Brunswick School Department	YES
Calais School Department	YES
Cape Elizabeth School Department	YES
Castine School Department
Caswell School Department
Cathedral School
Charlotte School Department	YES
Chebeague Island School Department
Community School
Connections For Kids
Connor Consolidated School
Cutler School Department
Dedham School Department
Deer Isle-Stonington Csd
East Machias School Department	YES
East Millinocket School Department
East Range Csd
Easton School Department
Eastport School Department	YES
Edgecomb School Department
Edmunds Consolidated School
Erskine Academy
Falmouth School Department	YES	YES	YES
Fayette School Department
Five Town Csd	YES	YES
Foxcroft Academy
Fryeburg Academy
Georgetown School Department	YES	YES	YES
Good Shepard Parish Schools
Good Will-Hinckley
Gorham School Department
Great Salt Bay Csd	YES
Greenbush School Department
Greenville School Department
Harmony School Department	YES
Hermon School Department
Holy Cross School-S Portland
Holy Savior School
Hope School Department
Indian Island
Indian Township
Islesboro School Department
Jay School Department
Jonesboro School Department
Jonesport School Department
Kids Peace-New England		YES
Kingman School	YES
Kittery School Department	YES	YES
Lee Academy
Lewiston School Department
Lincoln Academy	YES
Lincolnville School Department
Lisbon School Department
Long Island School Department
Machias School Department
Machiasport School Department	YES
Madawaska School Department	yes
Maine Central Institute
Me Educational Ctr For The Deaf & Hard Of Hearing
Me Sch Of Science & Mathematics
Medway School Department
Milford School Department
Millinocket School Department	YES
Moosabec Csd
Mount Desert School Department	YES	YES	YES
Mount Merici School
Mountain View Youth Dev Ctr		YES
MSAD 27
Msad 46	YES	YES
Msad 76	YES
Mt Desert (High School)
N F I North
New Sweden School Department	YES	YES	YES
Opportunity Training Center
Orrington School Department
Pembroke School Department	YES
Penobscot School Department
Perry School Department
Pleasant Point
Portland Public Schools	YES	YES	YES
Princeton School Department
Rangeley School Department
Robbinston School Department
Rsu 01 - Lkrsu	YES	YES	YES
Rsu 02 Kennebec Intra-District
Rsu 03/Msad 03	YES	YES
Rsu 04	YES	YES
Rsu 05   Freeport area	YES
Rsu 06/ Msad 06
Rsu 08/Msad 08
Rsu 09/ Msad 09	YES	YES	NO
Rsu 10 Western Foothills	YES
Rsu 11/Msad 11
Rsu 12 Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit
Rsu 13   Rockland Thomaston area
Rsu 14 Windham Raymond
Rsu 15/Msad 15	YES
Rsu 16  Minot/Mechanic Falls/ Poland
Rsu 17/Msad 17	YES
Rsu 18  oakland china area
Rsu 19  Newport Area, Etna Dixmont	YES
Rsu 20 Belfast - Searsport Areas	YES		YES
Rsu 21  Kennebunk area, A+B30rundel	YES
Rsu 22/Msad 22	YES
Rsu 23 Old Orchard/ Dayton/ Saco
Rsu 24	YES
Rsu 25
Rsu 26 Orono/ Veazie/ Glenburn	YES
Rsu 28/Msad 28	YES	YES	YES
Rsu 29/Msad 29	YES	YES	YES
Rsu 30/Msad 30	YES
Rsu 31/Msad 31	YES	YES
Rsu 32/Msad 32
Rsu 33/Msad 33
Rsu 34 Old Town/ Alton/ Bradley	YES
Rsu 35/Msad 35	YES	YES
Rsu 36/Msad 36
Rsu 37/Msad 37
Rsu 38
Rsu 39	YES
Rsu 40/Msad 40	YES
Rsu 41/Msad 41
Rsu 42/Msad 42	YES	YES
Rsu 44/Msad 44	YES
Rsu 45/Msad 45
Rsu 49/Msad 49
Rsu 51/Msad 51	YES	YES
Rsu 52/Msad 52
Rsu 53/Msad 53	NO
Rsu 54 / Msad 54
Rsu 55/Msad 55	YES	YES	YES
Rsu 57/Msad 57	YES	YES
Rsu 58/Msad 58
Rsu 59/Msad 59	YES	YES
Rsu 60/Msad 60	YES	YES
Rsu 61/Msad 61
Rsu 63/Msad 63
Rsu 64/Msad 64
Rsu 67
Rsu 68/Msad 68
Rsu 70/Msad 70
Rsu 72/Msad 72
Rsu 74/Msad 74	YES
Rsu 75/Msad 75
Rsu 79/Msad 01	YES	YES	YES
Rsu 80/Msad 4
Rsu 82/Msad 12
Rsu 83/Msad 13
Rsu 84 /Msad 14
Rsu 85/Msad 19
Rsu 86/Msad 20	YES
Rsu 87/Msad 23
Rsu 88/Msad 24
Rsu 89/Msad 25
Rumford Group Home
Sanford School Department
Scarborough School Department	YES
Sedgwick School Department
Sinclair School
South Portland School Department	YES
Southern Aroostook Csd
Southport School Department
Southwest Harbor School Department	YES
Spurwink School Inc
St Brigid School
St Thomas School
Surry School Department
Sweetser Children'S Services
Tremont School Department	YES
Trenton School Department	YES
Trinity Catholic Elementary School
Vanceboro School Department
Vassalboro School Department
Washington Academy
Waterville Public Schools
Wells-Ogunquit Csd	YES
Wesley School Department
Westbrook School Department
Whiting School Department
Winslow Schools
Winthrop Public Schools
Woodland School Department	YES	YES	YES
Yarmouth Schools	YES
York School Department	YES	YES
Youth & Family Services
Youth Alternatives

 

List of districts doing Maine Harvest Lunch and / or Farm to School  "The List"

 

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