June 2022- Ohio Farm to Summer, Cucumber Crunch, Adopt a Cow, and Local Advocacy
Ohio Farm to School Monthly Newsletter
Cultivators + Classrooms + Cafeterias
Issue #8 | June 2022
Welcome!
Welcome to the June edition of the Ohio Farm to School newsletter and Ohio’s first official Farm to Summer week! Find details below on the Cucumber Crunch, how your students can adopt their very own Ohio dairy cow, and statewide advocacy for food justice. If you are having trouble viewing this page, click here.
Ohio’s First Farm to Summer and Cucumber Crunch Event
Crunch into a crisp cucumber this summer to celebrate nutritious foods, local farmers, and Ohio Farm to Summer!
What is the Crunch? Celebrate Farm to Summer by purchasing and crunching into locally and regionally grown cucumbers. Then share photos from your Crunch on social media! Everyone is welcome to Crunch any day or time in the summer that works for you.
Who: K-12 schools, early care and education sites, hospitals, colleges and universities, farms, state and local agencies, non-profit organizations, local businesses, groups, and even households can register to Crunch this year! Anyone who wants to show support for local farmers and school food can join!
Where: Anyone across Ohio can register to Crunch in 2022! Crunch from a classroom, Zoom, school garden, home, or any safe and creative place!
The Mahoning County Career and Technical Center and Trumbull County Board of Developmental Disabilities have school farms where they grow produce for their meals and even share with the community!
Mahoning County Career and Technical Center and Trumbull County Board of Developmental Disabilities working on their school garden and a few photos of food from their programs are included below!
Cleveland Area Middle School Tours Local Dairy Farm
This spring, Brecksville-Broadview Heights Middle School received a special grant through the Adopt a Cow program to take a field trip to a local dairy farm. The American Dairy Association Mideastassisted in coordinating a trip for 300 seventh graders from the school to visit RMD Dairy in Rittman, Ohio. Students learned firsthand from dairy farmers about the free stall barn where their cows live, their carefully balanced diets and how they are milked using a robotic milking system. They also had the chance to get up close and personal with the calves and see how they are cared for.
Registration for next year’s Adopt a Cow program is open now through September 15th!
Bring the FREE Adopt a Cow Program to Your Classroom
Enrollment for next year’s Adopt a Cow Program is now open! Throughout this free year-long experience for your classroom, you’ll get an inside look at dairy farming and be paired with a calf from an Ohio dairy farm. You’ll find out what her name is, when her birthday is, where she lives and how the farmer takes care of her. You’ll also receive progress updates, photos of the cow, live chats from the farm, activity sheets for your students, suggested lessons that follow Common CORE standards and even opportunities to write letters to your calf. Be sure to register by September 15!
Local Matters Advocacy Day
Local Matters, a Columbus based non-profit working on creating healthy communities through food education, access, and advocacy, has been facilitating meetings with the Community Advocates Group, a group of community members from neighborhoods across Columbus.
In May, the Community Advocates discussed food system issues that affect the advocates’ lives and raised awareness of issues they experience firsthand, including lack of transportation to grocery stores, densification of Columbus neighborhoods, and food-related knowledge gaps for community members.
These members recently engaged with legislators at the statehouse for the Ohio Ag Noire Awareness Day, a statewide urban agriculture lobby event. Throughout the day, advocates joined others in meetings with legislators and panels on resources and networks for traditional and small-scale farmers, the existing landscape for urban farmers, and strategies for working with decision-makers. The June meeting will include state-level legislators meeting with the group at the Local Matters office for dinner and conversation as they work towards building a long-term relationship.
News and Events
Thursday June 23rd – Cucumber Crunch Celebration! 1:00 – 2:00pm
The Daily Dig In! Ohio Celebrates Farm to Summer, The Ohio Department of Education’s weeklong virtual series focuses on bringing Farm to School activities to child nutrition programs in the summer months. This special hour-long event will feature all things cucumber! Cucumber recipes, “Cucumber Crunch” activities, and other content related to support the outreach and marketing of your own Cucumber Crunch events and summer programming. This webinar is appropriate for all child nutrition programs. Register here.
August 12-24 Heritage Grain School
Join Agraria Center for Regenerative Practice for an immersive, three-day Grain School to learn about the craft, culture, and cultivation of Ancient Heritage Grains! Grain school will be held August 12-14. Learn more and register here.
Want to be featured in the next monthly newsletter and on Ohio’s Farm to School Websites? Share your F2S success stories with us! Submit your F2S Success Story here!
Thank you to the following newsletter contributors:
Mahoning County Career and Technical Center and Trumbull County Board of Developmental Disabilities
American Dairy Association Mideast
Local Matters
Authors:
Haley Scott, Ohio Farm to School Program Assistant, Ohio State University Extension
Lauren Preston, Ohio Farm to School Program Intern, Ohio State University Extension
