Forest Grove Elementary, BC is a Farm to School Month Canada 2016 Winner!

Forest Grove Elementary won the grant for:
Connecting students to local food producers such as farmers, gardeners, chefs, bakers, cheese makers etc.
A value of $1500.

Congratulations!

Their Farm to School Month Story:

From Oct 3 to October 7th, 2016, Forest Grove Elementary participated in a number of seed to table experiences. The Kindergarten and Gr. 1 students came out to their edible garden to visit and explore all the garden was going to provide for the upcoming October 7th community event including: learning about tomatillos for the tomatillo salsa sales, garlic for the tomato pasta lunch, saving a variety of seeds (carrots, marigolds, and sunflowers) as well as noticing all the greens that were growing over the summer for the salad portion of the lunch for the community event on the 7th.

Five intermediate classes participated in Cooking Classes highlighting the various crops that were either available from the garden or seasonally or locally available including: Garlic and Tomatillos for a salsa making and food preservation class, a Thanksgiving Side Dish class with Winter Greens from the garden, Brussel Sprouts, Carrot Soup with Carrot top pesto and a flatbread with Roasted Garlic and Rosemary from the garden. Our mandarin class learned 2 seasonal recipes including a Bok Choi Stir Fry and a Asian Coleslaw.

After these classes, 20 to 25 students who demonstrated attributes in responsibility, commitment, leadership and cooking skills were chosen to help with the Community Free Hot Lunch for the entire school on Friday October 7th, 2016. Students helped peel garlic, chop onions, make a tomato sauce for pasta, chop basil and grate cheese. Tomatoes from the summer were saved (frozen) to make the sauce and 2 bags of harvested garlic also went into the sauce from the garden. A special group of students also were sent to the garden to harvest greens for a salad and make a dressing. All the students from this group of 25 also helped serve 2 seatings of students from the school where all 300 came together to share this special meal. At the end of the event, a group of Garden Club members who helped estimate how many tomatillo plants to grow, then came together to prepare and preserve Tomatillo Salsa which was then sold to the school community.

The entire week was a huge success thanks to the help of community partner organization Sprouting Chefs who received funding support from Metropolis at Metrotown, a donation from Whole Foods as well as pasta and canned tomato donation from Ciolfi’s deli. Sprouting Chefs facilitator Barb McMahon, taught the students during the week with the help of dietetic volunteers from SFU and Fraser Health focusing on the health benefits of key ingredients.