Two Opportunities at Bring Food Home to Showcase Your Work
Posted: November 1, 2013
Categories: Edible Education Network / GoodFoodBites / News from Sustain Ontario
This year’s Bring Food Home conference will be featuring a full stream of children- and youth-focused presentations and workshops, and there are two exciting opportunities within this stream for you to showcase your related work.
If you are interested in providing materials or preparing a poster for Bring Food Home about either (a) your food and curriculum resources or (b) your farm to school program, please come to the following sessions ready to share your stories during the program and activity showcases:
Linking Food to the Ontario Curriculum
Sunday, November 17, 4:00 – 5:30 p.m.
· This interactive participant-driven workshop will explore the question “How did you find innovative and creative ways to explore healthy eating and healthy food systems within the Ontario curriculum?” The schedule will include 4 presentations (approx. 8 minutes each) as well as some brief discussion about the results of the Ontario Edible Education Network’s curriculum action planning process.
· Participants will be invited to tour the room for a 20-minute “activity showcase” to experience other examples of innovative programming happening across the province. The group will then discuss what works, what doesn’t, and what resources and supports are needed to help expand a focus on healthy eating and healthy food systems within the curriculum.
· The workshop will include teachers, not-for profit organizations that provide curriculum content, as well as participants from farms and other locations that link their programming to the Ontario curriculum.
Local Food Procurement in Schools
Monday, November 18, 3:30-5:00 p.m.
The farm to school model offers exciting opportunities for local economic development, for students to access fresh food, for teaching about food production and links to agricultural practices, as well as making biodiversity and sustainability links. A number of challenges, however, need to be overcome before local food procurement becomes mainstream within schools.
· This interactive participant-driven workshop will explore the question “What are some best practices / lessons learned for developing successful farm to school programs?” The session will explore:
· What different groups have done to start local food programs, such as how they approach and work with farmers; how they communicate the value of local food to students when they access nutrition programs; how they acquire and distribute local food.
· How schools have overcome challenges / barriers to local food procurement (such as cost, especially for low-income communities; purchase & distribution; limitations in contracts etc…).
· The schedule will include 4 presentations (approx. 8 minutes each) followed by a short summary of the results of the Ontario Edible Education Network’s local food procurement action planning process.
· Participants will then be invited to tour the room for a 20-minute “program showcase” to learn about other examples and lessons learned relating to farm to school programs in the province. The remaining 40 minutes will be spent in large group discussion to further explore what works, what doesn’t, and what resources and supports are needed to help expand a farm to school focus in schools.
For more information, please contact Carolyn Webb, Ontario Edible Education Network Coordinator, at cwebb@sustainontario.ca.