NE Washington Farm to School Workshop - Farm Tour, Kitchen Skills Training & Farmer Talk

Washington State Department of Agriculture would like to invite you to join with us and local partners Colville School District, WSU Stevens County Extension, Community Agriculture Development Center, and Northport School District for a day of Farm to School tours, workshops and discussion to work together toward local strategies to increase use of locally-grown foods in schools.

The FREE event will bring together potential farm to school partners from Stevens, Ferry and Pend Oreille County to tour Front Porch Farm and a local orchard (TBD), enjoy a sample farm to school lunch using farm-fresh ingredients, and meet to discuss the possibilities for farm to school for you.

(More details on event schedule below.)

Who is Invited: Farmers, School Nutrition Directors, and Local Food Partners in Stevens, Ferry, Pend Oreille Counties. Nutrition Directors, please invite up to 2 kitchen managers.

Farm to School breakfast, lunch and snacks will be provided!
All will be examples of school meals made with locally grown food

Space is limited, so please register by May 1st so we can plan transportation and lunch.

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Basic Agenda for the Day:

8:30-11:30am Farm Tours: Meet at Colville High School

• Front Porch Farm
• Riverview Orchard

11:30-12:30 Lunch: Riverview Orchard *Catered by Lovitt Restaurant

1:00-4:15pm Farm and Kitchen Work Groups: Colville High School

• Afternoon Farmer Opportunities Discussion
• Local Foods Planning
• Hands-on Kitchen Workshop *with Rene Sellgren of Spokane Public Schools!

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Nutrition Directors please plan to spend the day with us (8:30am–4:15pm)

• Tour farms and learn about foods grown or produced in your area that are practical to serve in school meals
• Tour a school kitchen and get hands-on kitchen training to learn new seasonal recipes
• Taste sample school meals made with Washington-grown foods
• Make connections with farmers in your region who are interested in selling to schools

School Food Service Staff EARN: 6 CEU Credits with WSNA (Key Area Operations)

Farmers please join us for the whole day, or just the afternoon’s regional marketing and farmer opportunities discussions (1:00 – 4:15pm):

• Make connections with potential buyers and have an opportunity to talk about your products
• Learn about the needs of school food purchasers such as type of products, volumes and delivery schedules
• Discuss potential regional opportunities for infrastructure projects to support sales to institutional markets
• Taste sample school meals made with Washington-grown foods

Other food system partners are welcome to join any part of the day, and are specifically encouraged to participate in the afternoon sessions to discuss local food supply chains and farm to school in NE Washington! (Please register)

For more information contact:
Acacia Larson - alarson@agr.wa.gov or 206-256-6151

This project has been funded with Federal funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The contents of this workshop do not necessarily reflect the view or policies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.