We connect kids to fresh food, sparking healthy eating habits for a lifetime!
At Bell Hill school, students enjoy sampling fresh produce from Starbright Acres Family Farm at their school garden cart during recess. One day when the bell rang and the cart closed, one little girl said, “Please, can I have just one more tomato? I have math next, and I won’t make it through my math test if I don’t get a tomato!”
The Farm to School program provides fresh produce and nutrition education to 96% of K-8 students in Western Nevada County.
Harvest of the Month
Monthly tastings of seasonal produce generously provided for all students by BriarPatch Food Co-op.
Get recipes, fun facts, meet farmers and more in the monthly newsletter for each Harvest Of the Month.
Are you a local or regional farmer interested in growing produce for Harvest of the Month? Learn about it here and apply today, or contact us to get your farm fresh produce in to Nevada County classrooms! Sierra Harvest will pay wholesale pricing.
Guest Chef
Cooking lessons with Guest Chefs – Try out the 2019 recipes, 2018 recipes and the 2017 recipes. Recipe books created by volunteer Amy Halter, of Amy Halter Design.
Field Trips
We bring classrooms to local farms to get the on-farm experience. Students will see how a farm is run, get their hands in the dirt, meet livestock, and get the understanding of how their food connects to local farms.
Garden Carts
Every fall, our Farm to School team sets up garden carts featuring local produce at schools around the County. These Garden Carts sell produce to parents, teachers, and students as a fundraising effort for PTC’s and Farm to School funding.
Farmer Visits
We bring farmers in to classrooms to talk about their work, what they grow, who they are, and to connect students with who is growing food in their community.
Plant Sales
Like the Garden Carts, but with plant starts! We purchase starts from local farms and offer them to students, parents, and teachers for their home gardens.
School Gardens
We support schools in their educational garden initiatives, and in many cases offer School Garden Educators and curriculum support.
In a true farm-to-fork experience, students at NCSA went on a field trip to Mountain Bounty Farm and harvested fresh, organic kale for the tasting day at their school. All grades got to make massaged kale salad with Food Service director Dre Maher. Inspired teachers integrated kale into their lessons, with Pre-K students drawing kale with their art teacher. One of the first graders who made the kale salad said:
“Did you know, I don’t actually like salad? But, I really like this salad.”
