“Food is not just fuel. Food is about family, food is about community, food is about identity. And we nourish all those things when we eat well.”

-Micheal Pollan  

Vermont has always valued the Farm to Table movement and supporting local farmers. Harwood especially tries to integrate it into locally sourced lunches, Harvest of the Month taste tests, and in the one and only Developing Sustainable Habits class. 

Each month I run Harvest of the Month taste tests in the cafeteria. The Harvest of the Month is run by the Food Connects, VT FEED, Green Mountain Farm to School, and Vital Communities as they put out which month correlates with each food we integrate into the food I serve. They decide on which food is which month by going by what can be supplied locally that is in season. For example, May is eggs because hens begin to pick up laying at that time, and March is carrots because this is when you can first harvest any that have been over-wintered. Heidi Turgeon-Baird plays a huge role in the taste tests by having her DSH class cook all of the food for me. So I would like to give a huge thank you to her and the DSH class for making the Harvest of the month taste tests possible.

We put on these taste tests to educate kids in how to cook with certain ingredients, support local farmers, and to help to create less food miles to help with climate change. This also builds on the importance of having a healthy diet, building community, and supporting local agriculture.  When you support local, you keep the money in your community rather than in larger companies that make money from all over the world. Supporting local farmers is supporting your entire community! 

Part of serving the Harvest of the Month is my independent study. For this I have read the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Micheal Pollan which states how industrial food production messes with food and the different concepts of farming. This book really changed my perspective on what I eat and how I cook in general. I absolutely recommend that book to anyone interested in sustainability, farming, or food production.

A big role in my independent study was planning FEAST (food education and sustainable thinking) which is an event for highschoolers to learn more about food systems and sustainability. On Wednesday, May 22, 2024, Shelburne Farms hosted the second annual FEAST for students, run by students. A group of eight students across Vermont began planning the event in September. These students took the important role of making a space for anyone who wanted to be involved to be able to talk about how they value food and their communities along with sustainability. This brought kids together from all over the state and created such a cool feeling to have students with similar interests compare their ideas and pull the event together. 

 Last year FEAST was born and quite a bit smaller than it was this year. There were only about twenty kids that attended. As one of the students that has been planning FEAST in 2024, I can attest that we have put so much time and effort into trying to make this event enjoyable for everyone that was attending. This year there were around sixty-five kids that attended, compared with twenty kids the year before. Everyone on the planning committee was more than overjoyed to see the turn out for the event. To see the event truly come together and go as planned is an amazing experience. 

FEAST is a great event if you enjoy connecting with kids all around Vermont, as well as learning and educating  about sustainability and food systems. I highly recommend this event to anyone interested in planning the event, running a workshop based on sustainability or food systems, or anyone who just enjoys meeting others and eating good food.

If you value Farm to School, local foods, the environment, and sustainability, get involved next year by joining the newly reformed Sustainability Club, taking Heidi’s DSH class, and/or joining FEAST in May.  Reach out to Paul Kramer or myself, and support local!