Progress 08/01/23 to 07/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The goal of the NC Farm to School Training Initiative (NCFSTI) is to develop an online educational training platform for individuals, groups, and entities seeking to implement and support more resilient food systems for our school communities. We engaged our target audiences in experiences that were mutually beneficial to the project and involved partners and will represent the diversity of Initiative participants in the finished training modules. For this reporting period, we targeted the following: Teachers / School Staff: Teachers, school staff, and administrators are key players when developing and maintaining a Farm to School program. By partnering with them, we are able to share the ways Farm to School ties in with standard curriculum and social-emotional learning. With these committed partners, our team filmed various school gardens and farming programming. Additionally, we provided technical garden assistance such as planting, harvesting, and maintenance. These partnerships help us showcase the numerous examples of school gardens and Farm to School programming around North Carolina and how Initiative participants can implement these ideas in their own communities. For this reporting year, we continued to focus on school gardening, but additionally on the connection to farm field trips and cooking in the classroom using produce harvested from the garden in teaching curricular standards. Chef Peter Brodsky, Northern High School Ms. April Hausle, Agriculture Teacher, Northern High School, Durham Public Schools Hannah Ball-Damberg and Geoff Seelen, Farm Educators, Durham Public Schools Hub Farm Courtney Smith and Josh Justice, CTE Teachers, Pisgah High School Ms. Stephanie Stephenson, Kindergarten Teacher, Clyde Elementary, Haywood County Schools Ms. Kim Serinis, Kindergarten Teacher, Clyde Elementary, Haywood County Schools Craven County Teachers Extension professionals: Due to NC Cooperative Extension's impact in all 100 counties of North Carolina, our team aims to bolster the relationship between district Farm to School efforts and Extension. These partners are able to share the rich history of NC Cooperative Extension and Farm to School, as well as provide recent examples of how partnerships operate between Extension and schools. Marcus Cyprian, Program Assistant - Agriculture, Horticulture, Gaston County Cooperative Extension Jonette Mungo, County Extension Director, Gaston County Cooperative Extension Sally Dixon, Haywood County Cooperative Extension Dr. Wykia Macon, County Extension Director, Vance County Cooperative Extension Allison Walker, 4-H Agent, Randolph County Extension Morgan King, FCS Agent, New Hanover County Extension School Nutrition Directors Sustainable Farm to School programming relies on effective relationship-building and community engagement. One of the pillars of Farm to School focuses on sourcing local food which provides students with healthy meals and builds economic opportunities for small and medium sized farmers. Local food procurement occurs through school nutrition directors and there are different ways it can be done. These partnering SND's share their stories and strategies to teach other school nutrition directors how they can also make it possible for their local education agency. Lauren Weyand, School Nutrition Director, Craven County Public Schools Alison Francis, School Nutrition Director, Haywood County Public Schools Angela Calamia, School Nutrition Director, Gaston County Public Schools Linden Thayer, Assistant Director of Food System Planning, Durham County Schools Non-Profit Organizations -There are many non-profit organizations whose missions enhance Extension's efforts with Farm to School efforts. By partnering with a diverse mix of non-profit organizations from around North Carolina, Initiative participants will be able to explore non-profit partnerships in their own communities that can help advance their programming. Additionally, non-profit leaders who may be Initiative participants can learn how they can partner with schools and districts to advance their mission. Evelyn Taylor, Director, Vance County Boys & Girls Club, Henderson NC Ms. Danielle Raucheisen, Director, Growing Minds Program, Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) Ms. Suzi Palladino, Program Coordinator, Growing Minds Program, Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) Lori Hill, Special Programs Manager, Asheboro Housing Authority State Agency: There are many state agencies in North Carolina that provide technical and financial assistance to schools and farms interested in participating in Farm to School efforts. The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services have assisted us in training School Nutrition Professionals as well as farmers and producers around the state. Both state agencies also have in-depth Farm to School resources (ex. Local food procurement, recipes, storybooks, lesson plans, promotional materials, etc.) that Initiative participants can use for their efforts. North Carolina Department of Public Instruction North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Parent/Teacher Associations and Organizations (PTA/PTO): Combs Elementary PTA has assisted with their school's garden programming by maintaining the garden and sourcing funding opportunities. Initiative participants will be able to see how they can coordinate with the PTA/PTO to help their Farm to School programming. Combs Elementary, Wake County Public Schools Oakley Elementary, Buncombe County Public Schools Weatherstone Elementary, Wake County Public Schools Students Students lie at the heart of Farm to School efforts. It is important to engage with them to understand what they'd like to see and experience out of the garden, school meals, and classroom lessons. By sharing student input, we hope to show Initiative participants how they can engage with students at their school or community program. Mathias Matthews, Agriculture Student, Northern High School, Durham Public Schools Hailey Brooks, Agriculture Student, Pisgah High School, Haywood County Schools Ellie Griffith, Agriculture Student, Pisgah High School, Haywood County Schools Jordan Nelson, Agriculture Student, Pisgah High School, Haywood County Schools Sumaya, Agriculture Student, Northern High School, Durham Public Schools Junior Chef Competition Team, Northern High School, Durham Public Schools Growers/Farmers: Growers and farmers are key players when educating students and sourcing local food for school meals. Showcasing farmers can inspire kids and families can lead to increased local food purchasing and field trips to farms enhance teacher instruction in the classroom. The following farms have demonstrated the impact farm field trips have on student learning both in-person and virtual visits. Wisdom Jzar, Farmer, Deep Roots Farm Sara Snyder, Agroecology Education Farm Providence Farm Holt's Apiary HubFarm, Durham County ?Overall, our primary outreach method focused on capturing formalized farm to school activities and simultaneously video recording these experiences. Our team filmed students engaged in gardening, cooking, field trips, capacity building, community building, and procurement to demonstrate to Initiative participants how to teach and organize this content. Additionally, students, teachers, and school administrators share their ideas about the importance of farm to school and specific examples of how they implement it. We similarly hosted other experiential learning opportunities that benefited students and teachers and elevated their work and stories as well as serving as practical and inspirational examples for other practitioners hoping to get started or dig in further to the farm to school field. Changes/Problems:Thank you for granting the No-Cost Extension this year, we look forward to wrapping up the project in Summer 2025. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?To continue to build capacity and leadership within our team, members have attended the following professional development: Drea Blackburn participated in theGrowing School Gardens Summit, March 2024 Remington Ham and Liz Driscoll participated in the annual conference for the American Society of Horticultural Science, September 2024 Drea Blackburn is participating in the Racial Equity Learning Lab Cohort National Farm to School Network, ongoing As also noted under other products;Regional Farm to School Extension Workshops across North Carolina (Mountains, Piedmont, Coastal Plain), 90 participants, 3 hours. Extensions Farm to School Working Group - all project team members collaborate with Extension partners for an Extension community of practice, 30 hours a year, monthly gatherings How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Last reporting period, our team created an NC Extension website; a Farm to School portal, that houses course content (i.e. videos, fact sheets, lesson plans, etc) to those interested in learning more about Farm to School. Our IT just added a "subscribe" option to begin to develop a database of interested participants. In addition, we have created a YouTube channel and are in the early stages of developing a social media strategy. Rather than start this sooner, we agreed to develop content first, to be able to calendar out posts consistently with a newly hired Farm to School communication intern. We have primarily leveraged existing infrastructures for communication including our Extension listservs which reach over 1,300 professionals who in turn, share with their communities, our Environmental Education listserv, NC Department of Public Instructions's School Nutrition Professionals and Career Technical Education teachers as well as science teachers k-12. We have worked with our partners at the NC Department of Agriculture's Division of Soil and Water to disperse to Soil and Water Conservation District employees. This year, we hope to partner with the NC PTA and reach their membership and additionally consider other audiences that we have not reached like growers / farmers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Thanks to a No-Cost Extension, our grant period has been extended through summer of 2025 this allows us the time to complete all of the training modules. We will be able to pilot and evaluate the impact they have on our audiences. We will be both piloting newly finished modules and re-offering modules that have been completed. Offer the following completed modules in February 2025 Introduction to Farm to School School Gardens We have reorganized and absorbed some of our original modules to better align with the Farm to School pillars of school gardens, cooking in the classroom, and local food procurement. To this end, we will complete and launch the following in-draft modules for piloting in April 2025 Cooking in the Classroom which includes: Student Engagement and Leadership Farm Field Trips to include in School Gardens Launch the following modules for pilot in June 2025: Local Purchasing and Procurement with School Nutrition Racial Equity embedded in each course Evaluation and Celebration embedded in each couse Finalize additional publications /activity guides to support these modules Creating a Farm Field trip for your Classroom Hosting a Classroom on your Farm Creating a Collaborative Garden Team Guide for Student Engagement and Leadership in Farm to School Working with School Nutrition for Local Foods Procurement Centering with Racial Equity in Farm to School

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The primary goal of the NC Farm to School Training Initiative (NCFSTI) is to develop an online for-credit and/or certificate program for individuals, groups, and entities seeking to implement and support more resilient food systems for our school communities. In Spring of 2024 we opened registrations to our Introduction to Farm to School and School Gardening courses. The School Gardening course had 106 participants register, completing 8 modules: 1). Starting a Garden and Garden Team, 2). Design Your Garden 3). Plan Crops and Select Plants 4.) (Food) Safety in the Garden 5). Exploring curriculum connections 6.) Managing the Outdoor Classroom 7.) Sustain Your Garden 8.) Starting a garden in special circumstances. The participants who registered hit nearly all of our target audience categories: teachers (41.8%), Extension agents and program assistants (25.4%), non-profit educators, school administrators, school counselors, small farmers, parent volunteers, Extension Master Gardener volunteers, and science curriculum specialists. We would have liked to have more representation from school nutrition personnel and agency partners and will focus on this audience when we open the course again this spring. Tremendous geographic distribution across the state was represented including 40% of North Carolina's counties, from as far west as Rutherford county (mountains) across the central part of the state (highest urban populations) to the coast. All economic county tiers were represented, including counties with high rates of childhood food insecurity and urban pockets that have similar demographic statistics. We implemented a pre and post survey and found the following impacts: There was a 10% increase across participants in strengthening their knowledge about the benefits of farm to school. There was a 13% increase across participants toward identifying the assets in their area that will help them strengthen and maintain their farm to school program. There was a 33% increase across participants in identifying collective goals for the school garden and developing roles and responsibilities for a school garden team. There was a 14% increase across participants towards increasing their knowledge about fruits and vegetables to grow in the school garden. There was a 9% increase across participants in understanding the importance of food safety in site selection, growing, and harvesting food. There was a 17% increase across participants in understanding how to include hands-on garden activities into the classroom curriculum. There was a 14% increase across participants in understanding how to create an accessible garden space in terms of garden design and curriculum connections. Overall, participants gave this course 4.54 out of 5 and 91% will recommend this course to other farm to school partners. 85% of participants found the course engaging and 91% of participants felt that the course met the learning objectives. 91% of participants found the course materials to be very useful. A sample of comments included: "This course really got my creative juices flowing! There is so much good and useful information here. I hope I have ongoing access to all the materials provided here!" ""I thought that the course being self paced was great because I was able to work at my own pace and complete multiple tasks at a time instead of waiting for a section of the course to open." "This was a very informative course. I can't wait to implement these new ideas & strategies in the classroom!" " Another significant activity has been the development of Extension Cooking Carts. In order to best figure out easy access and implementation for cooking harvest from the school gardens, our team has created two different models of cooking carts and have begun to pilot these carts through our farm to school partners including Vance, New Hanover, Gaston and Randolph county Extension to figure out the best supplies, recipes, and procedures. Once established, our team plans to leverage the cooking carts to feature in ongoing video development for the Cooking in the Classroom course. ? A second goal of the NCFSTI is to create free and easily accessible online tools for continuing education and outreach. This goal shall be supported through integrating educational video segments and published resources on the Farm to School Coalition of North Carolina and NC Extension website, as well as through social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. This form of online communication enables those interested in Farm to School to obtain information, programming ideas, and stay up to date on future opportunities despite actual NCFSTI enrollment. Additionally, it enables those who previously were enrolled in the NCFSTI to stay meaningfully connected. To this end, we have continued to grow our North Carolina Cooperative Extension "Farm to School Portal" (https://farmtoschool.ces.ncsu.edu/). Launched last year in October 2023 to celebrate Farm to School Month, this website serves as a centralizing resource for both Extension professionals and the public to access both course modules and related resources. It includes relevant and timely events, meaningful success stories and news and farm to school publications and activities. This will only continue to grow as more content is developed. Since the past reporting period, we have had 5,829 visits and almost half of those visits were to investigate our new online course offerings. A third goal of the NCFSTI is to provide established partners mechanisms for developing communities of praxis and sharing in the advancement of farm to school in NC. Partners will be supported through funding and educational kits, but our collective advancement of farm to school is what our partners name as meaningful. We also look to expand the understanding of farm to school as a community food security strategy through strategic regional connections, connecting growers, local farms, school nutrition, and policy makers and supporting development of communities of practice. Recognizing farm to school as local resiliency ultimately bolsters both our educational and food systems. This project has made an intentional and strategic effort to elevate partners from across the state that represent multiple demographics; rural and urban, mountains to coast, tribal partners, and counties with all economic distress designations from Tier 1 through Tier 3; all bringing community based assets and leadership in their respective areas. We selected partners based on a mutual commitment to furthering farm to school in their regions by serving as robust models that as they grow, they bring their neighbors with them. We have established the following formal partnerships: Transylvania County Schools (School Nutrition Lead, rural, mountains, Tier 2); Gaston County (Extension and School Nutrition, suburban / rural, piedmont, Tier 2); Halifax County (School Farm, rural, upper coastal plain Tier 1), Haywood County (Schools, School Nutrition, Extension, rural, mountains, Tier 2); Craven County Schools (School Nutrition Lead, rural / urban, coastal, Tier 2); Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project's Growing Minds (Non-Profit Lead, urban, mountains, Tier 3); Durham County (School, School Farm, urban, piedmont, Tier 3); New Hanover (Extension, Schools, urban, coast, Tier 3); Wake County Public Schools (Individual School Lead, urban, piedmont, Tier 3), Randolph County (Extension, Housing Authority, suburban, rural, Tier 2); Vance County (Cooperative Extension, rural, piedmont, Tier 1), Halifax Each of these partners have agreed to be a part of videos themselves and work with their networks for filming opportunities that both elevate farm to school from and within their communities and share their stories with others. The NCFSTI hopes to provide the platform so that all schools and partners can see themselves represented in training and promotional materials.

Publications

• Type: Other Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Eldridge, E. and Driscoll, E. (2024). Crops Garden Guide: From Cereal Bowl Gardens to Peanut Butter and Jelly Planters.
• Type: Other Status: Submitted Year Published: 2024 Citation: McAdams, E., Driscoll, E., Ham, R., Blackburn, D. (2024). Cooking from the Garden: Seasonal Recipes for Easy Classroom Cooking.
• Type: Other Status: Submitted Year Published: 2024 Citation: Ham, R. (2024). Designing the School Garden. NC Cooperative Extension, Raleigh, NC.
• Type: Other Status: Submitted Year Published: 2024 Citation: Ham, R. (2024). Getting Started with Farm to School. NC Cooperative Extension, Raleigh, NC.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Centering Anti-Racism and Restorative Justice in Garden-Based Learning - Growing School Gardens Summit (March 2024), 29 participants, 4 hours
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Driscoll, E., Ham, R. and Blackburn, D. (2024). Cultivating Connections: Empowering Professionals through NC Farm to School Training Initiative. American Society for Horticultural Science Annual Conference Proceedings.

Progress 08/01/22 to 07/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:The goal of the NC Farm to School Training Initiative (NCFSTI) is to develop an online educational training platform for individuals, groups, and entities seeking to implement and support more resilient food systems for our school communities. We engaged our target audiences in experiences that were mutually beneficial to the project and involved partners and will represent the diversity of Initiative participants in the finished training modules. For example, we have been intentional in sharing the stories of Farm to School that represent communities all across North Carolina including rural, urban, suburban, tribal, Appalachian, coastal plains, and piedmont. For this reporting period, we targeted the following: Teachers / School Staff Teachers and school staff are key players when developing and maintaining a Farm to School program. By partnering with them, we are able to share the ways Farm to School ties in with standard curriculum and social-emotional learning. With these committed partners, our team filmed various school gardens and farming programming. Additionally, we provided technical garden assistance such as planting, harvesting, and maintenance. These partnerships help us showcase the numerous examples of school gardens and Farm to School programming around North Carolina and how Initiative participants can implement these ideas in their own communities. Mrs. Erin Knight, Mrs. Hadley, and third third-grade team, Combs Elementary Mrs. Rachel Love and Ms. Shannon Capasso, Weatherstone Elementary Mrs. Meghan Seghedat, Swift Creek Elementary Lake Forest Academy (K - 8th grade students) JC Roe Center (6th -12th grade students) Transitions Program for Young Adults (18 -22 year olds still receiving services through the school system) Williston Middle School Mr. Reginald Cotten, Halifax County Schools Extension professionals Due to NC Cooperative Extension's impact in all 100 counties of North Carolina, our team aims to bolster the relationship between district Farm to School efforts and Extension. These partners are able to share the rich history of NC Cooperative Extension and Farm to School, as well as provide recent examples of how partnerships between Extension and schools. Dr. Wykia Macon, Vance County Extension (County Extension Director) Allison Walker, Randolph County Extension (4-H Agent) Morgan King and Heather Kelejian, New Hanover County Extension (FCS and Agriculture Agent) Dr. Rich Bonanno (Associate Dean, Director of NC Cooperative Extension) Extension Master Gardener Volunteers Sustainable Farm to School programming relies on effective relationship-building and community engagement. Developing a standard curriculum, hosting farm field trips, sourcing local food, and maintaining school gardens can be difficult to do alone. Extension has great community programming that school partners can tap into. We have showcased how schools can tap into many community resources, including Extension Master Gardener and Food Volunteers. Vance County Master Gardener Volunteers Extension Master Food Volunteers Non-Profit Organizations There are many non-profit organizations whose missions overlap with Farm to School efforts. By partnering with a diverse mix of non-profit organizations from around North Carolina, Initiative participants will be able to explore non-profit partnerships in their own communities that can help advance their programming. Additionally, non-profit leaders who may be Initiative participants can learn how they can partner with schools and districts to advance their mission. Vance County Boys & Girls Club Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) Growing Minds Program Asheboro Housing Authority State Agency There are many state agencies in North Carolina that provide technical and financial assistance to schools and farms interested in participating in Farm to School efforts. The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services have assisted us in training School Nutrition Professionals as well as farmers and producers around the state. Both state agencies also have in-depth Farm to School resources (ex. Local food recipes, storybooks, lesson plans, promotional materials, etc.) that Initiative participants can use for their efforts. North Carolina Department of Public Instruction North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Parent/Teacher Associations and Organizations (PTA/PTO) Combs Elementary PTA has assisted with their school's garden programming by maintaining the garden and sourcing funding opportunities. Initiative participants will be able to see how they can coordinate with the PTA/PTO to help their Farm to School programming. Combs Elementary Students Students lie at the heart of Farm to School efforts. It is important to engage with them to understand what they'd like to see and experience out of the garden, school meals, and classroom lessons. By sharing student input, we hope to show Initiative participants how they can engage with students at their school or community program. Numerous students representing primarily elementary students with plans to extend filming Growers/Farmers Growers and farmers are key players when educating students and sourcing local food for school meals. Our particular partnership with Sara Snyder and the Agroecology farm demonstrated the impact farm field trips have on student learning. Additionally, Providence Farm and Holt's Apiary provide examples of virtual farm field trips that schools and communities can use as a learning tool. Sara Snyder, Agroecology Education Farm Providence Farm Holt's Apiary School Administrators Receiving buy-in from school administrators is key when creating and sustaining a farm to school program. In particular, we have partnered with exceptionally dedicated school administrators who understand and believe in the benefits of Farm to School programming for their students and the broader school community. Lauren Weyand, Craven County School Nutrition Director Janette Broda, Transylvania County School Nutrition Director Juley Sexton, Principal, A.B. Combs Elementary Patsy Elrod, Assistant Principal, Combs Elementary Overall, our primary outreach method focused on capturing formalized farm to school activities and simultaneously video recording these experiences. For example, at one urban school with a demographic makeup consisting of 35% of the students eligible for free or reduced lunches and 47% racial and ethnic minorities (American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black, Hispanic or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander), the project leads organized a grade-level harvest and cooking activity for students. Our team filmed students engaged in gardening and cooking to demonstrate to Initiative participants how to teach and organize this content. Additionally, students, teachers, and school administrators share their ideas about the importance of farm to school and why they support these efforts. We similarly hosted other experiential learning opportunities that benefited students and teachers and elevated their work and stories as well as serving as practical and inspirational examples for other practitioners hoping to get started or dig in further to the farm to school field. Changes/Problems:We had two significant setbacks early in this reporting period. The first key challenge came with a personnel change; one of our Co-PI's, Tes Thraves, left NCSU. Her project responsibilities were eventually distributed among us, but this took up time to reorganize effort and understand her role in partnership development to re-cultivate those threads. The other reorganization that needed to occur was an internal rebudget. To deliver high-quality, professional videos, it was less expensive to redirect salary to internal communication staff rather than contract with local media vendors. In addition, we made an oversight to not include travel as part of the initial budget. With a priority to represent different parts of the state, we needed to include this piece to be able to visit small rural communities deep in the Appalachian mountains or reach out to our coastal communities among all the other vibrant programs tucked between. With these primary pieces recently put into place, we are confident moving forward that we have what we need to be successful. These are the specific budget changes we made: ?(-) 50,688 Contracted Services (-) 10,000 Video production will be done in-house with NCSU's Center for Environmental Farming Systems communication team, this will be moved into salaries. (-) 15,000 Evaluation development and analysis will be provided internally through NCSU Extension evaluation specialists and staff. (-) 25,676 Community Facilitation - our own staff will provide this and work with partner schools and organizations to guide development of the project. Re-Budget Towards these categories (+) 30,012 Other Personnel Marcello Cappellazzi, Film Production Coordinator (3.0 calendar months in both Years 1-2) will be responsible for video production (including storyboard development, creative direction, equipment operation) and editing (film editing, including accessibility and interactive features). (+) 2,676 Supplies & Materials to purchase supplies needed for video production - could include equipment for garden classroom cooking demonstrations, garden tools and materials (plants, soil, compost) for youth to demonstrate techniques. (+) 18,000 Travel needed for community engagement with partners, video production featuring farm to school and professional presentations of the project. Travel within NC to community partners for Farm to School filming. Overnight Trips include hotel, per diem, and mileage (state vehicle $46.80/day + $0.78 /mile) to Western North Carolina (Eastern Band of Cherokee, Cherokee, NC; Transylvania County Schools, Brevard NC; ASAP - Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, Asheville NC, Henderson County Apple Growers, Hendersonville, NC), Eastern North Carolina (Halifax County Schools, Craven County Schools, New Bern, NC; New Hanover County Schools, Wilmington NC), Sandhills Region NC, Piedmont NC (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Charlotte, NC; Guilford County Extension and Guilford County Schools, Greensboro, NC; Forsyth County Schools, Winston-Salem) Travel to Professional Society Meeting to present results of Farm to School course and affiliated farm to school capacity building - 3 project personnel to include related travel costs (flight, lodging, conference registration) No Change: Keep $9,988 in contracted services towards the external development of specialized video development and graphic design services. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?To continue to build capacity and leadership within our team, two of our members have attended the following professional development: Remington Ham and Kirsten Blackburn attended Children and Youth Gardening Symposium (July 2023) Kirsten Blackburn is participating in the Racial Equity Learning Lab Cohort National Farm to School Network How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The Center for Environmental Farming Systems shared an announcement about this grant with partners around North Carolina. The goal of this announcement was to gauge interest in the course from partners as well as understand how can can connect with them as we pilot the course. We will be sending out updates to those interested. Additionally, we created a Farm to School portal, that will house some of our course content (i.e. videos, fact sheets, lesson plans, etc) to those interested in learning more about Farm to School. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The upcoming reporting period holds tremendous promise. With the completion and near completion of more than half of the training modules, we will be able to pilot and evaluate the impact they have on our audiences. We will be both piloting finished modules and completing modules not yet started. Launch the following complete modules for piloting in January 2024 Introduction to Farm to School School Gardens Complete and launch the following in-draft modules for piloting in March 2024 Building Teams Student Engagement and Leadership Local Purchasing and Procurement with School Nutrition Farm Field Trips Start on the following modules, to be finished by July 2024: Cooking Classroom Racial Equity Evaluation and Celebration Create additional publications /activity guides to support these modules Creating a Farm Field trip for your Classroom Hosting a Classroom on your Farm Creating a Collaborative Garden Team Guide for Student Engagement and Leadership in Farm to School Easy Recipes for the Cooking in the Classroom Working with School Nutrition for Local Foods Procurement Centering with Racial Equity in Farm to School Working with our NC Extension evaluation specialist to develop and refine survey instruments to assess understanding and behavior change in participants as well as gather formative feedback to improve the modules.?

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The NC Farm to School Training Initiative (NCFSTI) has three significant project goals. The first goal of this project is to develop an online educational training platform for individuals, groups, and entities seeking to implement and support more resilient food systems for our school communities.To date, we have completed two major modules and have five in draft to be completed in early 2024, with the remaining three to be completed by early summer 2024. An unanticipated challenge to this project has been the timeline. We held a significant abundance of optimism for simultaneously creating content, disseminating it for pilot testing and capturing evaluation data by participants for both formative improvement and impacts the modules had on participants. We had a few setbacks (listed below) that dimmed our rapid timeline and have settled for pilot testing modules and gathering evaluation data to occur in year 2. The outcomes in year 1 are limited to outputs and to some partner feedback. An unexpected source of data was yielded from program partners that we collaborated with to develop videos. In the filming of different videos, we typically engaged youth and school staff in active learning opportunities that benefited students and teachers. For example, we worked with the Henderson Boys and Girls after school garden club to document garden planning and building. Rather than create a lecture video, we filmed our garden design workshop and solicited Master Gardener Volunteers to help with the build, capturing students, faculty, staff and volunteers working together. This daylong experience of doing and subsequently reflecting in video interviews, yielded the following success story: Vance County, NC - Henderson Boys and Girls Club; Dr. Wykia Macon, County Extension Director, Vance County Cooperative Extension shares "The Boys and Girls Club Garden has been a great addition for the club and the partnership between 4-H/ Cooperative Extension and B&G Club. An Extensional professional from our office visits the club and meets with the youth once a week. This may include our Small Farm Technician, Horticulture Agent, EFNEP educator or myself. The garden club youth are always excited to go out to the garden to see what's growing and possibly take some produce home, kids have mentioned using the peppers in spaghetti or cooking okra at home. We have cooked one of the squash together using a recipe from our EFNEP educator. Some of the B&G Club garden club members are also training for Dinah Gore Healthy Cooking competition, so they are learning more about identifying what is growing in the garden and how to cook it. We have also incorporated field trips to a local farm, Brown Family Farm, to allow the youth to talk to a farmer and see the different ways he grows his food. The kids are learning when to grow certain items. We recently removed the cucumbers, tomatoes, and okra and replaced them with kale, collards, cabbage, etc., which is all booming right now so we will probably be making some kale chips at some point soon." Another significant partner has been the administration and teaching staff at Wake County's Combs Elementary. Mrs. Erin Knight, Third Grade Teacher, shared this, "Our partnership with NC State and their involvement in our Gator Garden has been so impactful to our students and their learning. They lead our students in preparing the garden for fall and spring planting and guide them into understanding how to properly care for it throughout the year. Our science standards focus on identifying the parts and functions of a plant and what they need to survive. With the help of NC State and their undergraduate students, we are able to make meaningful and real-world experiences for our students. Our leaders are always so eager to visit the garden, care for it, and watch it grow throughout the year. They love researching all of the new and interesting crops that NC State donates to us, many of which students have never seen before- like kohlrabi and swiss chard. We are so grateful to them for this partnership and making learning come to life (literally!) for our students!" A second goal of the NCFSTI is to create free and easily accessible online tools for continuing education and outreach.To this end, we have developed a new North Carolina Cooperative Extension "Farm to School Portal" (https://farmtoschool.ces.ncsu.edu/). Launched October 2023 to celebrate Farm to School Month, this website serves as a centralizing resource for both Extension professionals and the public to access both course modules and related resources. It includes relevant and timely events, meaningful success stories and news and farm to school publications and activities. This will only continue to grow as more content is developed.We migrated our previous Farm to School webpages out of our Local Foods Extension portal to a standalone site. Between these two virtual spaces there has been 2,275 unique page views, with visitors accessing information ranging from general farm to school information, school gardens (most highly visited), garden-enhanced nutrition education and farm to cafeteria; local foods purchasing. We have created an NC State Extension Farm to School branding that provides visible recognition to these efforts. A third goal of the NCFSTI is to provide established partners mechanisms for developing communities of praxis and sharing in the advancement of farm to school in NC. This project has made an intentional and strategic effort to elevate partners from across the state that represent multiple demographics; rural and urban, mountains to coast, tribal partners, and counties with all economic distress designations from Tier 1 through Tier 3; all bringing community based assets and leadership in their respective areas. We selected partners based on a mutual commitment to furthering farm to school in their regions by serving as robust models that as they grow, they bring their neighbors with them. We have established the following formal partnerships: Transylvania County Schools (School Nutrition Lead, rural, mountains, Tier 2), Craven County Schools (School Nutrition Lead, rural / urban, coastal, Tier 2), Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project's Growing Minds (Non-Profit Lead, urban, mountains, Tier 3) Wake County Public Schools (Individual School Lead, urban, piedmont, Tier 3), Vance County (Cooperative Extension, rural, piedmont, Tier 1). Each of these partners have agreed to be a part of videos themselves and work with their networks for filming opportunities that both elevate farm to school from and within their communities and share their stories with others. The NCFSTI hopes to provide the platform so that all schools and partners can see themselves represented in training and promotional materials.?

Publications

• Type: Other Status: Submitted Year Published: 2023 Citation: Extension Publication Ham, R, Driscoll, E., King, M. Blackburn, K. (2023). Getting Started with Farm to School in NC. NC Cooperative Extension, Raleigh, NC.
• Type: Other Status: Accepted Year Published: 2023 Citation: Extension Publication Driscoll, E., Chapman, B., King, M., Chaifetz, A. (2023). Growing Safer Gardens, Food Safety Considerations for the School Garden. NC Cooperative Extension, Raleigh, NC (Revised, originally published 2012, updated 2023).
• Type: Other Status: Under Review Year Published: 2023 Citation: Extension Publication Ham, R., Blackburn, K., Driscoll, E., King, M. (2023). Creating Sustainable School Gardens. NC Cooperative Extension, Raleigh, NC.
• Type: Other Status: Submitted Year Published: 2023 Citation: Extension Publication Ham, R. (2023). Designing School Gardens for Learning and Discovery. NC Cooperative Extension, Raleigh, NC.
• Type: Other Status: Submitted Year Published: 2023 Citation: Extension Publication Driscoll, E. (2023) From Asparagus to Zucchini: Fun and Fabulous Veggies for the School Garden. NC Cooperative Extension, Raleigh, NC.
• Type: Other Status: Submitted Year Published: 2023 Citation: Extension Publication Blackburn, Kirsten. (2023). Building a School Garden Team. NC Cooperative Extension, Raleigh, NC.
• Type: Other Status: Under Review Year Published: 2023 Citation: Extension Publication Driscoll, Elizabeth. (2023). History of Farm to School in US and North Carolina. NC Cooperative Extension, Raleigh, NC.
• Type: Other Status: Under Review Year Published: 2023 Citation: Extension Publication Blackburn, Kirsten. (2023). What Farm to School Can Look Like in Your Area? NC Cooperative Extension, Raleigh, NC.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2023 Citation: Ham, R., Blackburn, K. (2023). Getting Started with Farm to School - Food and Consumer Science Institute, 50 participants.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2022 Citation: Barbieri, C., Brune, S., Driscoll, E., Knollenberg, W., Strnad, R.. (10/4/22). Agritourism: Enhancing Educational and Marketing Impacts. NC Extension Conference. Greensboro, NC. 57 participants.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2022 Citation: Driscoll, E., Ham, R., Hoy, K., Kelejian, H., King, M., Walker, A. (10/4/22). Digging into Farm to School. NC Extension Conference, Greensboro, NC. 49 participants.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2022 Citation: Driscoll, E. (9/10/22). The Tip-Off: Getting your school garden started in new and fun ways. NC Farm to ECE Institute. Greensboro, NC. 90 participants.
• Type: Websites Status: Accepted Year Published: 2023 Citation: Ham, R., Driscoll, E., Blackburn, K. (2023) North Carolina Farm to School Portal. NC Cooperative Extension, NC. https://farmtoschool.ces.ncsu.edu/