Farm to Summer extends the farm to school model into the summer, integrating local foods and agriculture-based activities when school is out. Farm to summer activities ensure children and teens retain access to nutritious meals and enrichment opportunities throughout the year. The Farm to Summer Challenge celebrates schools and community organizations using farm to summer strategies to improve summer meal programs. Sponsors of child nutrition programs completing at least one activity from one of the three challenge areas were recognized with the Gourd, Silverbeet or Broad Bean award.
The Farm to Summer Challenge areas are:
- Eat: Serve locally grown food or eat a locally grown cucumber for Cucumber Crunch Day.
- Grow: Participate in a gardening activity, take an agriculture-related field trip or host a gardening professional, such as Master Gardener for a lesson.
- Engage: Share your farm to summer activities through social media, local media coverage, a newsletter, a website, or other engagement channel.
Congratulations to our 2024 Farm to Summer Challenge winners!
Gourd Award Winners
Cincinnati Public Schools; Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati Public Schools offered local foods on their summer menu.
Cincinnati Public Schools offered various farm to summer activities this summer. A special breakfast menu was offered, featuring local dairy, locally grown strawberries, and a locally produced Belgian waffle. The school’s lunch menu included a salad bar with locally grown greens, grape tomatoes, cucumbers and apples. Cincinnati Public Schools hosted a Greater Cincinnati Regional Green Schoolyards Summit during which students led tours of Aiken High School’s community farm. To engage with the community, Cincinnati Public Schools took an innovative approach.
The school teamed up with Project Connect, an organization that provides advocacy paired with specialized educational services and lifestyle enrichment opportunities for children who are experiencing homelessness. This partnership allowed for 200 children to participate in fun food-themed activities such as making “vegetable bugs” and fruit and yogurt waffle cones.
Horizon Education Centers; North Olmsted, Ohio
The Horizon Education Centers, a sponsor of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) participated in Cucumber Crunch Day with eleven of their centers. A total of 1,120 crunchers tried locally grown cucumbers. Horizon Education Centers also ran a gardening club that thirteen of their centers and over 1,300 children partook in throughout the summer. Horizon promoted their farm to summer activities through the organization’s social media pages.
A young cucumber cruncher enjoyed cucumber slices
and crackers.
Children enjoyed tending to the center’s garden.
Lodi Family Center; Lodi, Ohio
Lodi Family Center is a non-profit organization with the goal of strengthening the local community by connecting families to resources like a food pantry, after-school programming, 4-H Club, a parenting support group and more. This summer, Lodi Family Center served locally grown peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, and more. The center engaged kids in fun, educational activities about local foods including a bell pepper taste test, multiple food art challenges, and a Cucumber Crunch event. Children tended to the center’s kids’ community garden and watched a virtual honeybee farm video about beekeeping. To increase engagement, Lodi Family Center hosted staff from the Department of Education and Workforce to help judge their annual Chopped Challenge, a kid’s cooking competition.
Children chose what local produce items to
use in the Chopped Challenge.
Lodi Family Center was able to serve garden
grown produce in their meals despite facing a variety
of challenges this summer, including visits from wildlife
and severe weather.
Ottawa County Family Advocacy Center; Port Clinton, Ohio
Ottawa County Family Advocacy Center is a non-profit organization that assists families and children living in Ottawa County navigate the educational, social and legal systems by providing programs and resources. This summer, Ottawa County Family Advocacy Center provided non-congregated meal bags to over 1,300 children that contained fresh cucumbers, Cucumber Crunch stickers, and a cucumber-themed newsletter. The center also promoted a virtual tour of a local dairy farm, Cold Run Jersey Farm, in a dairy-themed newsletter included in meal bags. Participating children received a farm to summer newsletter and activity sheets each week with their meal bag. Ottawa County Family Advocacy Center promoted their program and farm to summer activities on the organization’s social media pages.
Ottawa County Family Advocacy Center
provided a dairy-themed newsletter in the rural non-congregate meal bags.
Children received themed activity pages with their meal bags.
Painesville City Local Schools; Painesville, Ohio
Painesville City Local Schools uses a mobile meal truck called “The Lunch Box” to serve meals over the summer months. The Lunch Box served locally grown cucumbers, peaches, and apples, throughout the summer to approximately 300 children. Painesville also partnered with the district’s extended summer learning program and the Holden Arboretum to teach kids about the different ways plants can be used. Children made their own bug repellent with peppermint oil and enjoyed a fresh watermelon mint salad with their summer lunch. Painesville City Local Schools promoted their summer feeding program and various enrichment activities through the school district’s social media pages.
Children learned about peppermint
and how it can be used as a natural bug repellent.
The Lunch Box staff, prepared to serve summer lunches with a smile.
River Valley Local Schools; Marion, Ohio
River Valley Local Schools offered a variety of farm to summer activities to children. Children tried school-grown lemon cucumbers for Cucumber Crunch Day and made a cucumber salsa. Children also tried borage, an edible flower that tastes of cucumber. River Valley hosted a two-week farm camp for 25 students from kindergarten to 5th grade. During the two weeks, children participated in scarecrow making, learned about pollinators, and helped harvest vegetables from the school garden. Campers also made bee houses and planted pumpkin and carrot seeds. River Valley promoted their Farm to Summer activities on the district’s social media pages. Their program also received local media coverage.
Children showed off their school farm harvests.
Brent Herdman, Food Service Director, posed with campers.
St. Paul United Church of Christ; Wapakoneta, Ohio
St. Paul planted a 24 bucket, 3-tiered bucket garden with the help of a Master Gardener Volunteer to engage in farm to summer programming. They received community donations of lumber, buckets, soil, plants, and more. Every week, a different produce item grown in the bucket garden was featured in activities or as part of the summer lunch meal. Mint, oregano, and strawberries were all grown and sampled by children. St. Paul hosted a variety a Cucumber Crunch Week that featured pickle taste tests, cucumber facts and word searches, and cucumber cookies and muffins. Their program received local television and newspaper coverage.
St. Paul’s abundant bucket garden.
Silverbeet Award Winner
Westerville City Schools; Westerville, Ohio
Westerville City Schools participated in the Farm to Summer Challenge by serving locally grown peaches to 500 children participating in their summer lunch program. Peach-themed coloring pages were provided to elementary school children. On July 17, Westerville City Schools hosted a Cucumber Crunch event and served locally grown cucumber to 50 students. Westerville City Schools promoted their farm to summer activities in a district newsletter that reached over 5,000 engagements.
Children enjoyed fresh, locally grown peaches with their summer lunch meals.