Originally published in The Commons issue #453 (Wednesday, April 4, 2018). This story appeared on page A1.

By Wendy M. Levy/The Commons

On the first day of spring, Stonewall Farm hosted the Food Connects and Monadnock Menus 2018 Local Food Trade Show.

Upstairs in the visitor center’s bright, sunny community room, 25 regional food producers gave out information and samples of their wares to approximately 70 attendees. Most were buyers representing local retail stores, restaurants, schools, and other food-service operations.
Food Connects, which merged with Monadnock Menus last autumn, is a nonprofit that started in 2013 with a mission to deliver “locally produced food as well as educational and consulting services aimed at transforming local food systems.”

Through its Food Hub, Food Connects sells fruit, vegetables, meats, dairy foods, and value-added items from 45 local farmers and producers.

Their customers include approximately 100 wholesale buyers in schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and retail and cooperative stores in Windham County and a small part of Windsor County in Vermont, and Cheshire County in New Hampshire.

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Sarah Rosow, Guilford parent and community member, has recently taken on the role of Farm to School Coordinator at Guilford Central School. Sarah is a welcome addition to the team, as they prepare to carry out a second year of funding through the Agency of Agriculture Food & Markets. Farm to School programming has been integral at the school for many years, taken on collectively by faculty, staff and previous Coordinator, Hanna Jenkins. Hannah and her partner, Andy, own local farm, Tapalou Guilds, and will continue to support Farm to School activities in the years to come. 

In keeping with the 3 C’s model of Farm to School, the team at Guilford Central strives to include the Cafeteria, Classroom and Community in their initiatives. This winter, they are excited to host VT FEED educators for a full day of professional development around farm to school education in the classroom and garden. Students currently participate in regular cooking classes with Rosow and teachers host Harvest of the Month Taste Tests in their classrooms each month.
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As for the cafeteria, Chef Dan Rounds of Café Services, is thrilled to be serving his students a variety of local products, including things like yogurt, potatoes, beef, root vegetables and squash. Each year, the school receives the generous donation of one whole cow from Franklin Farm in Guilford. This winter, they paired local beef burgers with VT potatoes for a local burger day (pictured above).
With all this momentum around food and farming, Principal John Gagnon and the Farm to School Committee are hoping to build upon existing community involvement this spring. The fifth grade will partner with local permaculturist, Andy Loughney, to design and install a perennial garden on the school grounds this spring. 

Thanks to the Student Council at Leland & Gray, three times as many students are eating breakfast now than at the start of the school year. This increase came as result of the work done by Leland & Gray's Food Service Advisory Committee, led by school nurse, Sara Dunbar.

Leland & Gray was one of just a few Windham County schools to see an increase in meal participation last year, both at breakfast and lunchtime. 

However, breakfast participation was still relatively low with less than half of students choosing to eat breakfast before school. In an attempt to increase participation, the Student Council came forward with a suggestion — serve breakfast during the eight-minute break between students' first and second classes. 

The Abbey Group, the food service management company for Leland & Gray, decided that a traveling food cart would do the trick. Staff members prepare breakfast in the kitchen, load the items onto a traveling cart and set up shop in the hallway so that students can get breakfast on their way to their next class. The result? Participation has more than tripled.

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