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October 2023 E-Harvest Newsletter
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A Message from Commissioner Miller
Howdy Neighbors! Welcome to Your E-Harvest Newsletter.
October is Farm to School Month. Thank you to all the schools and child and adult care centers participating in my Farm Fresh Challenge. During last year's Farm Fresh Challenge, schools spent $5.7 million on Texas food products. This year, I expect that number to grow as child and adult care centers join the fun. Thanks to efforts like this, Texas is a leader in connecting federal nutrition programs and local agricultural producers. Remember, Texas Agriculture Matters.
Sid Miller
Texas Agriculture Commissioner
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Farm Fresh Back to Basics
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TDA's NSLW Recipe Book
Every month, the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) spotlights a fruit or vegetable currently being harvested in Texas. October's Harvest of the Month is Gala apples. This month, instead of Farm Fresh Cooking for the Seasons, we'll be sharing from the TDA nutrition team's National School Lunch Week (NSLW) Recipe Book. To celebrate NSLW this year, Level Up your lunch with this Baked Batatas and Apples recipe found on page 39. It includes October's Harvest of the Month, Gala apples.
November Harvest of the Month: Carrots
Congratulations!
Congratulations to the following recipients of the Healthy Meals Incentive grants:
- Plainview ISD
- Collinsville ISD
- Winnsboro ISD
- Waxahachie Faith Family Academy
- Aquilla ISD
- Hawley ISD
- Millsap ISD
- Miles ISD
- Santa Anna ISD
- Coleman ISD
- Italy ISD
- Florence ISD
- Terrell County ISD
- Austin Achieve Public Schools
- Beta Academy
- Port Aransas ISD
- Sinton ISD
- Riviera ISD
Grants were awarded to small/rural districts to help with modernization of their facilities and improving the nutritional quality of their meals. Grant amounts were capped at $150,000.
Funding/Donation Opportunities
Garden Funds
If you've been wondering about how to start a school garden or finding the money to get it going, Gardening Know How has a grant for you. Until the end of this year, they have applications open for 20 $1,000 grants to be used for community or school gardens.
Budding Botanist
The 2024 Klorane Botanical Foundation's Budding Botanist Grant is open until October 20. Twenty low-income schools will receive $500 each to implement garden-based learning opportunities for their students. Douglas Elementary (Tyler ISD) was a winner in 2023. They were awarded funds based on a project centered around the differences between growing plants in containers and hydroponically.
"Plant Ahead"
Spring gardens can be a challenge for schools. The academic year ends before plants can be harvested and leaving them in the ground is a waste of food. How do you continue the educational aspects of a school garden without letting plants and money go to waste? Plan ahead by emulating Boulder Valley School District in Boulder, Colorado. Each year, they host a plant sale, where they sell seedlings they've grown to the public. Funds used from those sales go back into their gardening programs.
Learning Opportunities
Journey 2050
There is no better way to learn about farming than to be a farmer. For most people, that's not possible. To get an idea of the work that goes into farming, you and your students can play Journey 2050, a game that simulates farming in three regions across the world: Kenya, India, and Canada. Players are scored on overall sustainability. Each level increases difficulty and adds another category of focus and opportunity. It's harder than you may think. Don't forget to watch your timer!
School Gardens During WWI
School gardens have a long history in the United States. In 1917, the U.S. Bureau of Education created the school Garden Army as a means to provide and conserve food during World War I. Digitized manuals and more materials from this period can be found on the Michigan State University Library's website.
Austin ISD Talks Tacos
AISD's Executive Chef Diane Grodek joined KUT Austin's Mando Rayo on his podcast Tacos of Texas to talk about school meals. Chef Grodek speaks of AISD's commitment to fresh, nutritious foods, and quick scratch cooking, which meets the diverse needs of their student body.
Farm to School Census
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 2023 Farm to School Census will be opening this month. The census gathers data from School Food Authorities (SFAs) to gauge the scope and impact of farm to school programming across the country. Find more information here: USDA Farm to School Census Quick Facts
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Team Nutrition School Meal Recipe Development Grant
TDA was awarded the USDA Team Nutrition Training Grant for School Meal Recipe Development to help schools develop and use recipes that highlight local agricultural products and meet the nutrition standards of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Earlier this year, TDA worked with the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in San Antonio and the child nutrition teams in Florence ISD and Salado ISD to create three nutritious and delicious standardized school recipes.
Texas Beef and Chimichurri Rice Bowl
A brown rice bowl with roasted pepper and onion topped with Texas beef marinated in a traditional chimichurri sauce.
Texas Mushroom Queso
A twist on a favorite Texas dish; this Mexican-inspired, creamy, cheesy sauce includes roasted texas-grown mushrooms and umami flavor - a guaranteed crowd pleaser!
Asian-Inspired Chop Salad with Ginger Sun Butter Dressing
This colorful, tasty salad features Texas-grown hydroponic lettuce, a rainbow of fresh vegetables, edamame, whole grain wonton strips, and a creamy ginger & sunflower seed-based dressing.
In April, the pilot recipes were produced by school nutrition staff and taste tested by students from Florence High School and Salado Middle School. Students filled out surveys to rate their opinions of the appearance, taste, and whether they thought the recipes were "school menu ready". Their feedback was used to improve and finalize the recipes, while still meeting the nutritional standards for school lunch.
Training videos created by TDA and CIA will be used by school nutrition staff to learn how to create the standardized recipes. In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will be publishing the recipes in their online school recipe box, which will highlight Texas agriculture for students and schools across the country!
If you want to try these delicious recipes at home, check out TDA's Meal Appeal webpage to access the recipes, training videos, and more information about the Team Nutrition Training Grant for School Meal Recipe Development.
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Farm Fresh Sharing is an E-Harvest feature spotlighting CEs from Texas and across the country and asking them to answer questions from you. On a quarterly basis, we will feature an interview with a Texas CE or producer taking part in farm to school activities. The goal of this section is to make connections between CEs and producers, answer questions about Farm Fresh programming, and share success stories. If you are interested in sharing your experiences and inspiring other CEs, please fill out this survey.
TDA has created resources highlighting success stories from last year's Farm Fresh Challenge and shared them on SquareMeals. While it's fun to be able to share stories from across the country, it's even better to share stories from our own CEs. Be sure to include your district/childcare name when sending photos from this year's Challenge so we can give you credit if you're chosen as a success story.
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Finding New Recipes
Try something new for your students this month. This Aztec Grain Salad recipe from the Child Nutrition Recipe Box combines quinoa with roasted butternut squash, apples (October's Harvest of the Month), and dried cranberries fora colorful side dish.
Funding/Donation Opportunities
Grant opportunities are scarce this month, so let's talk repurposing. If you're low on funds to purchase gardening containers, look around you to see what you can turn into a container or a raised bed garden. Is there an old refrigerator/dishwasher/chest freezer that someone is throwing out? Take off the doors immediately for safety, drill some holes for drainage if necessary, and fill it with twigs, leaves, compost, and soil (twigs and leaves help fill the space less expensively than soil and compost). A bonus with old appliances is the insulation built into them. The insulation helps with moisture retention during warmer months.
Have an old filing cabinet that you're not using? Take out the drawers and flip the cabinet on its back. Drill holes in the drawers and the cabinet for drainage. Voila - you have raised bed gardens.
Check your local surplus stores to see if they donate anything you can use as an eco-friendly alternative garden. Not only will you be able to create a garden, you'll teach your students how to think about creative ways to reuse what is available to them and avoid sending things to the landfill.
Learning Opportunities
For a fun, new way for your students to learn about life on a ranch, Matthew McConaughey stars as the voice of Hank the Cowdog in the podcast series: Lost in the Dark Uncharted Forest. Hank takes himself seriously as the head of ranch security, protecting everything and everyone from cats, big and small. In this 5-part adventure, Hank must save his boy, Alfred, when he gets lost in the forest. Along the way, they meet an owl, some buzzards, coyotes, and Sinister, the biggest bobcat Hank's ever seen.
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National Farm to School Month/National Farmer's Day
October is Farm to School Month. Combined with TDA's Farm Fresh Challenge, it's the perfect time to start or strengthen your relationship with local schools and childcare providers.
October 12 is National Farmer's Day. It's a day chosen to thank hard-working farmers across the country for providing fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, milk, meat, and flowers. Most people don't think about where their food comes from or how much work goes into every aspect of farming. Thank you Texas farmers, for all you do and grow for your fellow Texans.
Learning Opportunities
Are you aware of the nationwide impact of Farm to School programming? Your contribution to school meals means more than the money in your pocket. As farmers and ranchers, you help keep students healthy, strong, and able to learn. Your fresher foods are less likely to wind up in the trash, leading to reduced food waste. The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) has compiled a list of resources documenting the impacts of Farm to School programs.
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Getting to Know School Meals
How much do you know about school meals? Chances are good that you have opinions based on your days in school or media portrayals of school food. With that in mind, we're going to start a series of articles about what really goes into your student's breakfast and lunch. We'll begin with a brief overview, then go into a bit more detail about each part of the meal in the coming months.
Welcome to the first issue of the School Food Digest!
School meals are meant to meet the nutritional needs of students at each stage of their development. There are calorie, vitamin, sodium, saturated fat goals, and more. Your districts/schools/childcare providers spend a lot of time planning menus that meet these goals while serving foods their customers (your children) will find tasty and appealing. Part of their efforts to create these dishes includes finding and using foods produced by Texas farmers and ranchers.
Research has shown that children who eat school meals are getting food that meets more nutritional needs than foods from home or restaurants. USDA has created an infographic showing healthy eating scores for lunches and percentages of students consuming milk, fruits, vegetables, and snack/dessert foods.
Other resources with more information about school nutrition can be found here:
Come back next month for a more in-depth look at fruits in school meals.
Don't forget to watch your school's social media accounts to see what they're doing for the Farm Fresh Challenge!
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Farm Fresh Back to Basics
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In celebration of Farm to School Month, Back to Basics will focus on the benefits of farm to school programming.
The National Farm to School Network has created a fact sheet detailing the benefits of farm to school programming for farmers, students, and the community.
On the Harvard Graduate School of Education website, an article can be found detailing the lasting benefits of school gardens for children, including better health and more enthusiasm for nutrition education.
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Contact TDA
Toll Free: (877) TEX-MEAL
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Connect with Others
Texas Farm Fresh Network Use this tool to connect with Texas food companies that currently sell or are interested in selling to schools, child care centers, adult care centers and summer meal programs. Company listings include contact information, product availability and distribution radius
Funding Opportunities Financial support from organizations may help establish or advance local Farm Fresh initiatives. This list includes opportunities from TDA, USDA and other organizations.
Interested in learning more about Texas products?
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This product was funded by USDA.
This institution is an equal opportunity provider. |
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