Besides local farms and our own little farm here at the Farm to School Hub, we have a number of mini-farmers in the district growing hyper-local produce on school grounds.
This year, nineteen schools are growing vegetables for the lunchroom. These are a few:
Teachers and other garden champions learn best practices in food safety and growing at workshops held here at the Hub in the fall and spring.
GET (Growing Education Training) students grow transplants for the gardens from seed and build boxes for raised beds.
The veggies growing in the garden are the same ones we are purchasing from local farms.
Kitchen staff learn how to include incoming produce in recipes on the menu.
Students and teachers connect the garden with classroom learning.
And through a partnership with the Family Nutrition Program (part of UF/IFAS), all students growing for the lunchroom are receiving nutrition education as well.
It’s a healthy system for growing healthy minds and bodies by growing food.
Alachua County Farm to School 