Fwd: Kick Off Your Week: Farm to School taking off

From: "Supt. Christina Kishimoto" <reply@hawaiidoe.org>
Date: March 12, 2018 at 5:18:13 PM HST
To: <20048903@notes.k12.hi.us>
Subject: Kick Off Your Week: Farm to School taking off
Reply-To: reply@hawaiidoe.org

VIEW EMAIL ONLINE Farm-to-School is taking off in Hawai'i One of the many things I love about Hawai'i is the wealth of community-based activities that allow us to engage with our neighbors. I appreciate the deep connection to and appreciation of culture and 'aina found here, and the strong sense of place and 'ohana. Recently, an invitation popped into my email for the Go Hawai'i AgCurious Program. This is a collaborative between the University of Hawai'i (a land grant university), Go Farm Hawai'i and Kamehameha Schools. The invitation was for families interested in exploring a career in agriculture through a small farm venture. That caught my attention. (Side note: here's how my brain works … stay open to new learning even if there is no immediate or obvious connection to the work you are doing.) And there I was a week later on the Windward side of O'ahu at the Punalu'u Ahupua'a Farm with a diverse group of innovators exploring this opportunity for the Ag-Curious! In addition to meeting lots of new people with similar curiosities, I learned about some of the factors that are driving families to consider a career change to farming, the demand for more farmers in Hawai'i, and the challenges of this work. As we moved from the information session to our farm visit at Little Tomatoes Farm, I began to reflect upon the DOE's own 'Aina Pono program, and how far we've come this school year to connect schools to farms, provide more Hawai'i-sourced foods in our school lunches, and support our local industries and economy. Vision: Locally Sourced, Fresh Food 'Aina Pono started with a vision that was shared across the state and galvanized many partners who could help us bring this vision to fruition. The Farm to School Initiative was a spark, spearheaded by former Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui's convening in 2015 of the Hawai'i Farm to School Advisory Group, which formed the foundation for the first complex-wide F2S program in Kohala (and which has since expanded to include Mililani). 'Aina Pono includes a growing network of partners and farm providers, a spotlighted Harvest of the Month food, and a plan to integrate school-based student-run gardens and Career and Technical Education pathways. We are delivering on a vision of locally grown, healthy food options that is dramatically changing public school food services across the Islands. How is 'Aina Pono different from other food service programs? It's a commitment to provide meals that are served fresh and sourced locally. Our food service program strives to produce 60 percent of food from scratch. Also, we serve about 23 percent local products and have a goal to raise that to 40 percent. In the last few months, we've served local foods statewide as part of 'Aina Pono's Harvest of the Month effort (and shared with a recipe for each food): Beef in December with Teri Loco Moco and Teri Hamburger Steak Bananas in January with Fresh Banana Crumble Papayas in February with Uncle Jeff's Papaya Bread and fresh 'Ulu (breadfruit) this month with 'Ulu-licious Wraps We also aim to reduce and recycle food waste. Eventually, we would see school garden produce incorporated into school lunches in addition to nutrition education in school garden and classroom settings. What's next? The 'Aina Pono partnership design to connect local farmers with our cafeterias is one that legislators and other partners are discussing as a practice that can be expanded upon for other government and non-government partners. We are proud of the work that our food service team is doing to set a new standard of practice in feeding our haumana and raising their awareness of health and nutrition. This year, the legislature is considering the addition of another two positions focused on Farm to School as we work to scale our efforts. Our School Food Services Program Administrator Albert Scales continues to push our innovative work on this front. I personally thank our 1,000 cafeteria managers and workers for their care of our keiki. So while my ag-curiousity may not lead me to run a farm, everyday encounters and work passions spill into one other in powerful ways. FOLLOW US: Facebook | Twitter | Vimeo | Pinterest | LinkedIn | Google+      ONLINE: HawaiiPublicSchools.org This email was sent to all Hawai'i DOE staff. unsubscribe

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