Farm to School

• Community Alliance With Family Farmers Farm to School Working locally in various CA regions. Check out their "Farm to School Guide for Parents and Community Members" and their "Farm to School Guide for Food Service Professionals"
• CAFF Farm To School Brochure.pdf
• CA Farm To School State page of the national farm to school movement.  Farm to School Video - Highlights video from the CA Farm to School Website
• California Department of Education's Farm to School Page 

Connecting with Local Farmers

• CAFF's Buy Fresh Buy Local Guides for various CA regions
• LocalHarvest.org a searchable database for local farms and products
• CFAITC's Farm Field Trip sites in CA.
• A Farmer In The Classroom.pdf  Tips for arranging a farmer visit in your classroom. Contact the Community Alliance with Family Farmers or the CA Farm to School folks for more ideas and farmers to connect with.

Tips for Sourcing Local

• The Farm To School Context.pdf An introduction to some of the common barriers to source food from local farmers.
• Common Solutions for Distribution Strategies.pdf Addressing the barriers of sourcing from local growers.
• Tips For Building Farm to Institution Connections.pdf CAFF's guide to helping schools source from farms.

• Food Service And Farmer Conversation Guide.pdf A discussion guide for Food Service Staff and Farmers to start the conversation of sourcing local.
• Sourcing From Farmers Discussion Template.pdf Sample telephone survey for starting the discussion with local growers.

• Applying Geographic Preferences in Procurement  CDE Nutrition Services Division Management Bulletin. This Management Bulletin provides information on a change in federal law that encourages School Food Authorities (SFAs) operating the School Nutrition Programs to purchase unprocessed, locally grown and locally raised agricultural products. 

Successful Serving and Promotion Styles

• Fruits and Vegetables Galore: Helping Kids Eat More a tool for school foodservice professionals packed with tips on planning, purchasing, protecting, preparing, presenting and promoting fruits and vegetables. This resource is free online or ordered as a hard copy and includes the following sections:
• Meal Appeal-Attracting Customers
• Quality Food for Quality Meals-Buying Frutis and Vegetables
• Tricks of the Trade-Preparing Fruits and Vegetables
• Wake Up to Fresh Fruits and Veggies a program designed for school food service personnel to support addition of fruits and vegetables to breakfast offerings for students. Has many resources and tips for sourcing, promoting, storing, and serving fresh fruits and vegetables in a school setting. View the site outline for a summary of modules.
• Video: Balboa High School's Fruity Girls serve up fresh fruits and veggies at their school.

Promoting Fruit and Veggie Snacks

• Try It You'll Like It Lesson kids create a promotion campaign for for fruit or vegetable. A lesson from The Growing Classroom.
• Oranges the Perfect Product - a unique way of describing fruit

Clean Fruits and Veggies: From the Garden to the Classroom 

• California Department of Education School Garden Management Bulletin. This Management Bulletin, created for School Nutrtion Departments, responds to frequently asked questions regarding school gardens. 
• Ventura Unified School District's Healthy School Garden Pledge outlines guidelines to maintaining a healthy garden site.

• California School Garden Network's Cooking and Eating lessons and resources. Includes a list of suggested cooking supplies for the classroom.
• Cooking Box Supply List Gault School.pdf ideas for cooking kits to use at your school, taken from Gault School's Nutrtion Education Program
• Crockpot Cooking Tips.pdf ideas for cooking in your classroom with a crock pot
• Solar Cooking, cook in the garden using the sun. Learn to make an oven or buy a cooker
• Blunt tipped knives are a good option for students prepping food in the garden or classroom

• Safety in the Garden a handout from the California Department of Education that outlines basic saftey issues related to starting a school garden and a list of toxic plants.
• Food Safety Tips From Your Edible Home Garden Brouchure  http://wifss.ucdavis.edu/pdf/homegardenbrochure.pdf
• Food Safety Music Videos http://foodsafe.ucdavis.edu/html/home.html With a few clicks you can be on your way learning (and hearing) about food safety through song and video. It's all here for you - 27 downloadable songs, Powerpoint slide presentations with accompanying lyrics and clip-art, lyric files.

Safe Culinary Skills

Additional Resources

• HealthierUS School Challenge Enter your school in this national contest
• USDA Rural Development Community Grant Program to assist schools in areas with less than 20,000 people
• More Fundraising and Grant Resources from the California School Garden Network
• California Regional Environmental Education Network
• Network for a Healthy California Regional Networks connect with others working towards building healthy communities
• Children's Power Play Campaign Regional Contacts connect with regional promoters who serve 4th and 5th grade student

Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP)

• FFVP Grants
• California FFVP Guidelines
• FFVP Handbook

Ventura Unified School District

Child Nutrtion Program links to their beautiful educational menus, Healthy Schools Program and more. Here are some additional resources that have been developed for use at VUSD Healthy Schools Program:

•   Healthy Schools Program Flier
•  School Garden Input Standards
•  Healthy Garden Pledge
•  Procedures for using Garden Veggies in the Cafeteria
•  Year Round Lesson/Veggie Planning Matrix