Homegrown: Farmer Fair in Iowa City

I attended the Farm to School Farmer Fair when it was at Longfellow Elementary in Iowa City. It was great to see students eating local, healthy foods and hear information about composting and other insights into how food is grown.

This spring - on Friday, May 25, 2012 - the fair will be at Horn Elementary. Heather Widmayer sent the following info about the event:

IOWA CITY – Horn Elementary will host the fourth ICCSD Farm to School - Farmer Fair, an “in-school field trip” that brings farmers and nutrition educators into elementary schools to talk to students about where their food comes from and making healthy food choices.

All K-6 students at Horn will rotate through these hands-on activities:

• Meet live farm animals with Dana Foster, Scattergood School and Farm

• Learn about growing food with local growers:

• Shelley Squier of Squier Squash and Donnelly Farms

• Katie Peterson, Jean Donahue and Jon Yagla of Hue Hill Farm

• Build a composting system with Scott Koepke, New Pioneer Food Co-op/Soilmates

• Plant seeds with Kristin Bergman, Taproot Nature Experience

• Taste local produce prepared by David Burt, owner of Burt Family Food Services and founder of The (late) Red Avocado with:

• Jessica Burtt, Field to Family

• Chelsey Thomsen, AmeriCorps Member

• Get moving during a nutrition lesson and relay race with:

• Maureen Meyer, AmeriCorps Member, Johnson County Public Health

• Lisa Yoder, Johnson County Extension, “Pick a Better Snack” program

"We are very excited to have the opportunity to bring community members into our school and teach our students how and what food is grown locally and how it ends up on our kitchen table,” says Kristin Cannon, principal at Horn Elementary. “Additionally, this presentation will help our students learn about the importance of nutrition and how they can make informed choices about the food they eat."

The Horn Farmer Fair is presented by the ICCSD Farm to School Chapter, a project of Field to Family (formerly Johnson County Local Food Alliance), with assistance from Johnson County Public Health's AmeriCorps Member, Maureen Meyer. The Horn Farmer Fair is made possible by donations from the 2011 Culinary Ride and Paul's Discount Store.

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The ICCSD Farm to School Chapter is working to increase the amount of fresh, local food that students eat through our three projects: 1) adding more local foods to school lunches, 2) building school gardens and composting systems, and 3) providing food, agriculture and nutrition education programs. The ICCSD Farm to School Chapter is one of 19 chapters in the Iowa Farm to School network, a program coordinated by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the Iowa Department of Education.

Field to Family is an association of farmers, consumers, professional food buyers and support organizations fostering a more local and sustainable agriculture in Johnson, Linn, and surrounding counties. Field to Family's projects include ICCSD Farm to School, Buy Fresh Buy Local, the Field to Family Festival, and the Regional Community Food Coalition