At institutions throughout New England, dining staff are beginning to look to the sea as another source for local foods. Institutions from across health care, colleges & universities, and K-12 school systems are incorporating locally caught seafood into their meals for a variety of reasons and through a variety of procurement models. FINE set out...Read More

The Farm to School Salad Bar is a new and innovative initiative in British Columbia (BC) designed to increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables amongst students and raise awareness of the health benefits of doing so. Although the concept of farm to school appears simple, it has multiple planning-related objectives including adopting a comprehensive...Read More

At Brant-Argyle School in Argyle, Man., the chicken club is not a tasty sandwich — it’s a program that teaches kids about raising chickens. The school has received a conditional use variance that allows children to keep chickens in an outdoor coop in the schoolyard in the hamlet of Argyle, 40 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. Grade 5 student...Read More

It’s not unusual to see classes held outdoors at Alonsa Community School. Students regularly eat their lunch there too. That’s because what they’re learning — and what they’re eating — comes from the school’s yard. Two years ago, this tiny school of 130 students decided to dig up part of the schoolyard lawn and fill...Read More

Beyond connecting with local farms and farmers, Haida Gwaii schools are incorporating hunting, gathering, foraging, gardening and greenhouses into their schools’ food supply. This idea emerged naturally in a place where wild foods are so plentiful and the culture of feasting and sharing food is central to the island culture. This remote archipelago along the...Read More

Salad bars in schools. An oxymoron?  Not in the US where the 4000th school salad bar was granted earlier this year.  As part of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign, over $10 million in salad bar equipment and training has been provided to US schools. Farm to Cafeteria Canada (F2CC) is championing the same model in...Read More

Above: Eight L-shape raised beds provide lots of growing opportunity for the students of Grosvenor Elementary School, Winnipeg. Photo: Mark Klassen It’s great to see how many people in Winnipeg want to engage youth and community in the act of growing food. We are fortunate to be able to help some of those folks in their...Read More

Some parents may struggle to get kids to eat their greens, but at St. Bonaventure’s College in St. John’s students are excited about a new salad bar featuring local seasonal vegetables. Students lobbied for a wider variety of healthy options in the school’s cafeteria and applied for the Farm to Cafeteria Canada program — which they got....Read More

Photo: Oliver Elementary School is turning some of its students into “young farmers” as part of the Salad Bar Program. In top photo are students getting ready to grow their gardens. In top photo from left are Matthew Hodge, Dustin Cachola, and Justin Vala. In back row are Nicholas Lang, Jasneet Sidhu, Avnit Sidhu, and Eisha...Read More

Last week, while spring flurries flew around us, we built a new school food garden. Dundas Public School and First Nations School of Toronto now have a shared school garden! The process has been in the works for over a year, but last week the physical garden build finally happened! I work at Dundas and...Read More