Heading 1
GinnFarms dba
Fresh Local Food Collaborative of SE Indiana
We work through community partners to connect consumers to local producers and grow awareness about sustainable practices.
Project title: Seeds of Hope
Farm2School programming supports three activities to help kids stay connected with their food. Those are cafeteria procurement, school gardens, and education. To help teachers focus on teaching and farmers focus on farming, our efforts focus on those details in the middle that help programming be successful.
Cafeteria Procurement – Schools will order from our local farmers instead of their traditional sources. At this point, we have access to local foods the first 8 weeks and last 8 weeks of a school year. As demand increases producers will be able to provide year round supply. Why shouldn't our neighbors feed our children at school.
School Gardens – Traditional school gardens are at their peak during the summer months when kids are not in school. We suggest the use of www.towergarden.com in the classroom.
- These 24 x 24 vertical gardens have their own lights and water reservoir making them an easy addition to the classroom.
- Because they are on wheels, they can be moved into different classrooms for different teaching experiences.
- Recent curriculum has been developed to support use of these gardens in schools
- We will provide a monthly visit from a Purdue Extension, Master Gardener, or other technical expert for plant success.
Education –
- We use a Harvest of the Month program to help kids get connected with local food. This is simply a monthly taste testing of a locally sourced item hosted by one of our volunteers.
- We also offer culinary training for cafeteria workers, during the summer that teaches things like knife skills, big batch cooking, and fresh food safety.
- Encourage farming as career choice or post-secondary degree
- Great Lakes Apple Crunch
- An opportunity for kids in 5 states to take a bite out of a fresh local apple.
- Rising Sun School Corporation and Lawrenceburg Schools participated in 2017
- Rising Sun and and South Dearborn participated in 2018
- An opportunity for kids in 5 states to take a bite out of a fresh local apple.
USDA Grant Submitted for $98,306 to support Farm2School in SE Indiana. Decisions end of January.
Thinking about going into farming as a career choice?
Aquaponics is a new and growing natural choice. It provides four seasons of growing and can furnish fresh local fish as well as vegatables.
This isn't your Daddy's farm!
