🌱🍎Meet Our New Farm-to-School Team! 🌱🍎

We’re excited to welcome our new AmeriCorps Farm-to-School Coordinators — Alex, Ella, and Kristen — who are already making an impact this school year! With support from our Farm-to-School Program Manager, Elyse, they’ve been diving into school garden harvests, preparing and serving delicious harvest dinners, and bringing seasonal celebrations to our partner schools. 🥕

This fall, students are proudly sharing the fruits of their labor with their families during open houses - showcasing their cooking skills through a meal or pressing cider at our table while we connect with parents and guardians.

We’re honored to be part of these meaningful moments and to support students as they connect with where their food comes from, share their pride in what they’ve grown and cooked, and build community through food. 💚

#FarmToSchool #AmeriCorps #SchoolGardens #HarvestSeason #FoodEducation

GMFTS was thrilled to host a United Way service group from @communitynationalbankvt at the Newport City Elementary School garden yesterday morning! This dedicated crew poured their energy into the garden and tackled a big list — resetting fence posts, building a new compost bin system, and removing old bin materials. 💪 They also cleared out TWO truckloads of weeds and turned over all the garden beds! Their generosity even extended to donating and installing a new roll of fence wire!

A heartfelt thank you to this amazing volunteer team for their hard work and community spirit 💛🌱

Last week, students from Brownington Central School joined GMFTS and @salvationfarmsvt on a special field trip to @cabotsmithfarm, where they gleaned over 1,300 pounds of summer squash! 💪

This fresh produce will be shared with charitable food distribution sites across the Northeast Kingdom, sent home with students, and used in our Cooking Club program.

This hands-on experience was made possible through a Farm to School Vision Grant from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture—part of a statewide effort to empower students to tackle real-world challenges in their communities.

During the trip, students learned how gleaning surplus crops can fight local food insecurity. A group of these students will dive deeper through our Cooking Club, preparing meals with gleaned produce for the Orleans Federated Church to share with neighbors in need. 🍽️❤️

Huge thanks to Salvation Farms for leading this inspiring day in the field!

It was a spectacular evening for our community potluck last night at Bluffside Community Garden! Sunny, cool and breezy as 18 community members gathered to share delicious food from their gardens, including stuffed zucchini, cucumber salad, garden salsa, squash soup and rhubarb crisp. It was a beautiful mix of long-time residents, newer faces, seasoned gardeners and food enthusiasts, all with a shared goal of connecting to their community. 🥰

Thank you to the VT Dept of Health and @vermontlandtrust for co-hosting. Let’s do it again!

We had an amazing evening on Tuesday at @joesbrookfarm for a @nofavermont Pizza Social! 🍕🍉

Guests enjoyed delicious wood-fired pizza from NOFA, farm-fresh watermelon and cantaloupe straight from Joe’s Brook, and homemade zucchini brownies from our team.

It was truly heartening to come together, connect with the land, and celebrate the farmers who nourish our communities. Joe’s Brook Farm is a valued partner of our Farm Direct food hub, and we’re proud to work with them to bring more fresh, whole, local foods to Vermont schools. 🌱💚

Huge thanks to NOFA and Joe’s Brook for hosting such a beautiful gathering!

Our FINAL week at The Lunchbox was filled with books, bikes, and lots of GIANT zucchini!

The Lunchbox served a total of 4,129 free meals to kids 18 & younger this summer. We also distributed 1,071 pounds of local vegetables, fruit, and dairy products through our Market Basket table.

Shout out to our many community partners who make The Lunchbox such a fun & engaging space to enjoy a meal: @circussmirkus, @clifonline, Vermont Department of Health - Newport’s WIC program, @nekwmd, Newport Bicycles Friendly Committee, @stjhub , Gene “the snake guy”, @greaterbarton, Barton Public Library, Leach Public Library, Goodrich Memorial Library, and local authors Sharon Darrow, Christy Mihaly, Natalie Kinsey-Warnok, and Duncan McDougall.

Special thanks also to @salvationfarmsvt, Hornet Hill Farm, @jasperhillfarm, @petes.greens, and @berrycreekfarm1992 for sharing their abundance with our program! 🍅🥒

And much gratitude to our generous business sponsors for helping to make the program possible - @abbeygroupvt, @susankelleyharkey, @century21farmandforest, @communitynationalbankvt, @concept2inc , Donald Dahlin DDS, @eastrisecu, @jasperhillfarm, @jaypeakresort, @nekwmd, @northcountryfcu, @northcountryhospital, @mandt_bank, @passumpsicbank, Taylor-Moore Agency, @vt_electric_coop, @united_ag_and_turf_northeast.

See you next year! 🤗