Coupeville Farm to School

Help us reach our goal of $7,500!

Mission

Coupeville Farm to School (CF2S) teaches our students to value the uniqueness of their agricultural community and food system. We aspire to prepare them with the knowledge and skills to participate in and contribute to its preservation and economic development. Our goals include increasing our students' interest in eating healthy foods, empowering students to participate in their local food system and providing a fresh approach to teaching with an outdoor classroom. We support learning in the gardens and on the school farm, inspire creativity, and promote the health of our community's students. We support students to become Courageous Eaters!

Description

Coupeville Farm to School began in early 2013 when a group of parents, teachers, school food service staff, and local food advocates met to identify ways local food and agriculture could be integrated into the Coupeville School District through garden based education. This organization serves children of all ages in the Coupeville School District.

CF2S has had great success, thanks to tremendous, ongoing support from our community and our schools. We have grown from one small educational garden by the elementary school to now serving every Coupeville School District student, staffed by a Program Director and Educational Coordinator and a School Farm Assistant who works with our School Farm Manager. In partnership with the district,  the 1 acre School Farm/outdoor classroom has produced 6000 pounds of food this year for our district’s cook-from-scratch kitchen that goes directly to feed our students.  As schools face budget shortfalls, we are committed to the success of the school farm and continue to fund the Farm Manager's position.                                                    

We began by renovating the garden at Coupeville Elementary School to use as an outdoor classroom and community space. In the last year we have expanded our programming to include a Middle/High School garden and outdoor classroom, a weekly adaptive garden program for our elementary life skills students, host a daily "tutorial" class at the Middle/High school, and we have begun work on "The Wolf Patch" a high school garden run by CTE (Career and Technical Education) students. We also host an afterschool program, Cultivating Company, every Wednesday for CMHS studetns. Teachers are being provided with resources to connect garden-based activities with educational standards, incorporating lessons in science, mathematics, and language arts. Cooking classes in the late fall and winter months encourage students to be courageous eaters and explore foods from many cultures.

The School Farm, in collaboration with the district's Connected Food Program, has produced thousands of pounds of healthy produce for the cafeteria in the past 3 years. Students spend class time at the farm helping to plant, harvest and sample a variety of vegetables like kale, broccoli raab, tomatoes, and cucumbers, further encouraging them to be curious eaters and to appreciate the life cycle of their food.

Fundraising Goals

 Our goals for 2025-2026 include:

- Increase presence at CMHS and summer programming - In the summer of 2024 we hosted our first summer camps including a teen "sustainable skills" camp. In the summer of 2025 we will be hosting both a middle school and a high school camp to expand our programming with the 6th-12th graders at CMHS. We also plan to double our summer camp offerings at the elementary level. 

- Curriculum development - with a successful elementary garden curriculum in place we have expanded onto the Middle and High School campuses and are offering even more classes on the School Farm. In partnership with CHS we have also been assisting with the CHS CTE program.

- Community engagement - having healthy kids benefits our entire community as we continue to build on our relationships with other organizations and local residents, who assist with projects like the completion of the Middle/High School Gardens, after school programming and summer programs. In 2025 the school farm will also serve as a community gathering space.

- Cooking programs - Our elementary cooking program has continued to change with the needs of the district and the community - most lessons have been focused on First Foods and local foods which support the Since Time Immemorial and 13 Moons curriculums. Cooking at the secondary campus is focused on life skills including kitchen safety, basic knife skills, staple cooking, and more. 

Our needs for this campaign are very specific:

• Outdoor Pizza Oven
  • This will give us the opportunity to feed more families on the farm as well as expand our cooking lessons
• Compost Bin for the CMHS Garden
  • to dispose of weeds and other plant materials
• Wool Drum Carder
  • For fiber arts (to use in conjunction with the drop spindles we already use)

Can we count on you to help us reach our $7,500 goal?