Farm to School Newsletter

August 2024

August

August is the last month of summer programming before school starts back up in September. We are working hard behind the scenes in anticipation of school starting back up in the fall. Meanwhile, our gardens are producing bountiful summer vegetables.

The harvest of the month is brussel sprouts! Brussel look almost like a miniature cabbage growing on a stalk (see photo of two Buckley students holding brussels at the farm market). Each plant yields 60-80 sprouts! Click the photo for a link to more information on brussel sprouts.

July Recap

Buckley

July was full of garden camp at Buckley. Students enjoyed tending to the plants in the garden, physical activity games, and preparing a variety of different tastings. Students prepared fruit pizza, mango salsa, veggie quesadillas, and a green smoothie. We're happy to say that garden camp was a big success this year!

Courtade

The best word to describe the Courtade garden this summer is resilient! Despite fighting with pests (especially bunnies), the garden has continued to thrive and produce greens, cucumbers, beans, and herbs.

We are always happy when families join us for garden workdays. Even if you can't make it for a workday, we hope that you find some time to enjoy the garden with your family this summer!

Northport

We are just over halfway through Northport garden camp! The students have enjoyed a bountiful harvest of greens, peas, cucumbers, and beets. At camp, they have tended to the garden, learned about healthy eating, played physical activity games, and helped prepare many tastings. So far this summer, they have prepared kale Caesar salad using greens from the garden, fruit pizza, butterflies/ants on a log.

Summer Migrant Program

Throughout this summer program, students learned about nutrition labels, sugar sweetened beverages, where food comes from, eating a rainbow, and healthy snacking. They have played physical activity games, and practiced their cooking skills while helping to prepare black bean dip, fruit pizzas, green smoothies, and butterflies.

In kindergarten, with the butterfly tasting of banana, celery, raisins, pretzels, and peanut butter, some students opted to make butterflies, while others got creative and made other animals. See the photo of a T-rex.

Buckley Bike Trail

We had a successful bike trail building day! Thanks to the help of our wonderful community volunteers, the Schaub family and their team from Picture Perfect Asphalt, we were able to finish construction of the bike trail!

Trails are ongoing projects and require maintenance, so we will continue to host workdays and make improvements to the trail.

Upcoming Summer Fun!

Courtade Garden Workdays

Come one, come all to our Courtade garden workdays! We will be in the garden from 9-11am every other Wednesday starting on July 10th and 24th. That time doesn't work for you? No worries! The garden is open to families and community members all summer. Feel free to stop by anytime to pull some weeds, and grab some veggies to take home! Any questions, email bjuday@northwested.org.

Pop-Up Markets Are Back!

Mark your calendars for the annual pop-up farmers markets!

We are always looking for more vendors! If are a grower or know someone who is, and would like to sell some produce or local goods at one or more school markets, please reach out! Have questions but you're not ready to commit? No worries! We are happy to answer any questions you may have. Please email bjuday@northwested.org for inquiries about the pop-up markets.

See below for market dates.

Recipe of the Month

Volunteer with us!

If you would like to volunteer, click the button above to complete our Google form.
Questions? Contact Megan (marmstrong@northwested.org) and Brooke (bjuday@northwested.org).