Farm to School Month

Let’s Celebrate!

We encourage you to celebrate Farm to School month by joining us at a virtual event, advocating for Farm to School with your legislators, recognizing the farm to school champions in your community, and much more. Each week in October we will be sending out an email highlighting events & actions for the week. If you’re not on our mailing list, please sign up here!

There are so many different ways to celebrate the month. Whether you’re a teacher, a student, school nutrition staff, administrator, or a community partner, we have a slew of ideas to get you started.

Get inspired with these highlights of some of the members of our MA farm to school community.

Nominate a Kale Blazer!

We invite you to nominate your favorite farm to school champion to receive the 2024 Massachusetts Farm to School, “Kale Blazer,” award. We will announce the winner in November. The Kale Blazer recognizes an individual or group of individuals who have demonstrated excellence and leadership in farm and sea to school activity in Massachusetts. These are people or groups at the forefront of the farm and sea to school movement – innovating and setting inspiring examples for others. As we seek to advance equity in the farm and sea to school movement, we particularly want to recognize those individuals who are working to ensure that all students can enjoy local food in school meals and engaging food education.

Learn more & Nominate.

2024 Farm to School Month Kicks Off!

We were thrilled to join a visit to Czajkowski Farm in Hadley to showcase the strong partnership between the farm and the Boston Public Schools. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Congressman Jim McGovern, State Sen. Jo Comerford, State Rep. Daniel Carey, Boston Public Schools’ Director of Food & Nutrition Services Anneliese Tanner, and Dept. of Agricultural Resources’ Winton Pitcoff highlighted the City’s commitment to investing in our local food system and ensuring students have access to delicious and nourishing foods. Read more & check out coverage on WWLP.

Photos © Boston Mayor’s Office, Mike Mejia

Take Action!

Make your voice heard this October and show your legislators why farm to school is as important as ever. Check out the MA Food for MA Kids site to send an email to your legislator, sign a card showing your support for a farm to school grant program, find tips for meeting with a legislator, download tools to engage students in advocacy and more!

We need your help to pass the bill to make the Massachusetts Farm to School Grant program permanent. Join advocates across the state during Farm to School Month in meeting with legislators in October at the Statehouse, in district, or virtually. One of the most important things you can do is have a conversation with your legislators or their staff.

Ways to Celebrate Farm to School Month

Join us in celebrating Farm to School Month throughout October. We’ve got lots a great ideas for you. We’ve listed a few ideas below, but please click the link to read the full list.

Educators: Sign up for our Harvest of the Month for Educators program (elementary and/or secondary)
Students: Conduct a trash audit at your school to see how much waste there is and how you can reduce the waste. Learn more about what students did in Northampton to start a school-wide composting program at their school here.
School Nutrition Staff: Encourage students and staff to try a new, local healthy food by creating a taste test station and send us a photo or tag us in a social media post!
School Administrators: Start a Farm to School Committee at your school and create a plan to roll out Farm to School programming school-wide.
Community Members: Help your school librarian build a Farm to School section in the school library. Check out this book list.

Download a flyer

Help to Get Students Involved in Advocacy Work & Civic Engagement this October!

Are you an educator? Do you work with students in or out of a school setting? Help them advocate for Farm to School in their communities by encouraging them to fill out a Farm to School Student Advocacy Form! Send the forms back to us and we’ll deliver them to Massachusetts legislators from your community. Send forms to Mass. Farm to School, P.O. Box 213, Beverly, MA 01915 or scan and email dena@massfarmtoschool.org).

Let us know how you're celebrating Farm to School Month!

Share your experiences with us on social media. Use #MAF2SMonth & #FarmtoSchool and tag us in your posts. Facebook: @MassFarmtoSchool; Twitter: @MAFarmtoSchool; Instagram: @MassFarmtoSchool.