Tuesday, May 17, 10:00AM-11:00AM

Presenters
Emilia Perez, Innovation Academy, Student
Haleigh Cummings, Innovation Academy, Student
Alani Vasconcelos, Innovation Academy, Student
Caroline Bishop, Innovation Academy, Student
Anna Cynar, Innovation Academy, Classroom Educator

Learn about Innovation Academy Charter School’s Farm to School Internship program from student ambassadors who will share their challenges & accomplishments. The ambassadors will give a demonstration on growing microgreens indoors, discuss the kitchen library program they implemented to encourage and support teachers who want to cook in the classroom, and talk about how they overcame obstacles to get their entire school involved in reducing food waste. Participants will also come away with ideas for how to raise funds in order to support new projects and programs in their schools.

Tuesday, May 17th, 4:00PM – 5:00PM

Presenter
Gabby Alvarez, North Shore Root Crew, The Food Project
Mekkailah Chourb, North Shore Root Crew, The Food Project
Jonathan Forbes, Greater Boston Root Crew, The Food Project

In this workshop, youth from The Food Project’s Root Crew will provide an introductory primer workshop to help demystify how school food works and understand how to undertake effective school food organizing. It will highlight the school food process so that youth and community members can learn how to engage with the most effective leverage points and stakeholders in their districts and reimagine what school food can be.

Wednesday, May 18, 10:00AM-11:00AM

Presenters
Caroline Cooper, Student, Northampton High School
Amelia Ritt, Student, Northampton High School
Lily Shimpach, Student, Northampton High School

During this workshop the Northampton environmental club co-leaders will explain how to introduce composting into school cafeterias. They will outline the necessary steps to get administrative approval, explain the nitty-gritty logistics of waste collection and removal (trucks, custodial staff help, compost monitors), and provide the attendees with ways to engage students in the process and incentivize them to help out! They hope to encourage students to start initiatives in their own schools by providing them with a successful example and empowering them with information and resources.

Wednesday, May 18, 4:00PM-5:00PM

Presenters
Vanessa Garcia Polanco, Policy Campaigns Co-Director, National Young Farmers Coalition
Greta Shwachman, Food Service Director, Greenfield Public Schools
Norris Guscott, Equity Policy Network Manager at The MA Food System Collaborative and Public Health Coordinator, City of Lynn

Are you interested in a career in the local food system? The career possibilities in this field are many and varied. In this panel discussion you’ll learn from young food systems leaders about the paths that led them to their current roles. You’ll have the opportunity to ask them candid questions about charting a course in this growing field.

Thursday, May 19th, 10:00AM

Presenter
Ollie Perrault, Student

Join youth climate activist Ollie Perrault in this workshop that will explore environmental justice and how climate impacts play out in communities’ access to healthy food. This workshop will also examine youth empowerment and the importance of youth voices in this evolving conversation, climate change solutions both big and small from composting and eating local to joining a climate action group that addresses climate policy on a systemic level, how to have inclusive conversations around climate intersectionality, the role that art and creativity has to play in combating climate change, as well as how you can get involved and start working to save the future of our planet. This workshop is open to anyone interested in hearing about these issues from the perspective of young people that have grown up in the climate crisis.

Monday, May 16, 2:00PM-3:00PM

Presenter
Sophie Scott, Gulf of Maine Research Institute

We hear it over and over again: kids don’t like seafood, fish is hard to prepare, local fish is hard to procure. This session, led by Sophie Scott of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, will discuss common local seafood myths and show participants that local seafood is a climate friendly and environmentally responsible protein that helps to support our working waterfronts, coastal communities, and local economy while being incredibly nutritious for growing hearts, bones, and brains. Through case studies, market research, and experiences from school nutrition directors, attendees will gain the tools to help them become successful in their local sea to school goals.

Tuesday, May 17, 2:00PM-3:00PM

Presenters
Jared Auerbach, Founder & CEO, Red’s Best
Joseph Jurek, Commercial Fisherman

Join Red’s Best’s Founder & CEO Jared Auerbach and special guest, fisherman Joseph Jurek, for a transparent conversation about the inner workings of New England’s lively, historic fishing industry. The focus of this session will be innovative seafood products developed specifically for schools, including those where scratch cooking is less feasible. All are welcome no matter how much seafood knowledge you currently have. Come learn, discuss and get all of your questions answered.

Thursday, May 19, 10:00AM-11:00AM

Presenters
Karly Dunn, Home Grown Springfield, Student Engagement Specialist
Julia Thomas, FoodCorps Service Member
Ashley Carvajal, Student, Putnam Academy
Arianni Diaz, Student, Central High School

Drawing on their collective experience working at Home Grown Springfield and FoodCorps, Karly and Julia will share how they are incorporating student feedback into their school meals and why it is important to do so. Attendees will be given tools to identify their students’ opinions and strengths, and harness their voices to advocate for the changes they would like to see in their school community. Hear from students about their personal experience and how empowering youth to make specialized changes in their communities will enhance their own school experience, and also encourage the life-long habit of amplifying their voices. 

Monday, May 16th, 4:00PM – 5:00PM

Presenters:
Brittany Peats, MA Food System Collaborative
Jessica Lander, Lowell Public Schools
Maria Berrios, Auburn High School

Hear from high school teachers about how they have creatively and thoughtfully included discussions about diverse culinary traditions and sustainability in the food system in their classes. Brittany Peats, Program Manager of MA Food System Collaborative, will moderate a panel of teachers: a history teacher who incorporated a lesson on immigration by creating a cultural cookbook with students’ family recipes and a science teacher who connects her lessons to the school garden. The workshop will begin with an overview of the importance of food system education and the MA Food System Collaborative’s campaign to expand food system education.

Wednesday May 18, 4:00PM

Presenter
Anna Cynar, Innovation Academy Charter School, Classroom Educator

Come learn from Anna Cynar, Educator and Co-Coordinator of Innovation Academy’s Sustainable Food Systems course, an interdisciplinary, full-year lab science class for 11th and 12th graders. You’ll learn about how the class is structured, explore class projects, and take a virtual tour of the cooking labs and routines for implementation ideas. After the tour, there will be time to network with one another so we can share information and resources!

Thursday, May 19th 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM

Presenter
Karen Spiller, KAS Consulting & the Thomas W. Haas Professor in Sustainable Food Systems at University of New Hampshire

For the past seven years, Food Solutions New England has hosted the 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge that has inspired thousands to learn, reflect and act in service of creating a culture of belonging and just practices, with our food system as a frame.  Food system practitioners, policy makers, educators, community activists, college students, soil scientists, healthcare professionals and their agencies are among those in diverse sectors who earnestly continue to find ways to build and nurture new relationships, shift policies and challenge norms that once included some and excluded most. With the lens of racial and social equity, we together have been able to create space for dialogue, authentic engagement and allyship leading to action and changes in beliefs and aspirations; the ways in which the work is done, and how decisions are made. With intentionality and intersectionality, the Challenge has been used as a tool to transform the culture at higher education institutions by engaging faculty in syllabi development for their courses across disciplines of agriculture, social work, and business; promoting student-led campus conversations; and hosting point of service and learning activities in the university’s dining services and meal plans. In this session, participants will explore ways and strategies to use the 21-Day Challenge as a tool to prepare our younger students to be thoughtful and brave about their multiple identities and celebrate the fullness of the communities in which they will live, work and play. We will together build a menu of possibilities for our school communities – starting with our K-12 students, then their families, school faculty and staff in the quest to be one a community of excellence, equity and belonging.

Thursday, May 19th, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Location: 91 Martin Street, Acton, MA 01720

Host: Annie Broad, Sales Manager, Boston Food Hub

Come learn about the history of Boston Area Gleaners, their involvement in the local farming and hunger relief community, and hear an introduction to the work they are doing in the local produce industry through Boston Food Hub. In addition to a walking tour of the farm and food hub operation, be ready to get your hands dirty by weeding and planting in the field or seeding in the greenhouse!

Age Limit: All ages welcome, anyone under 18 will require a signed parent/guardian liability waiver. 

Additional Event Details: Please wear long pants and close toed shoes. Parking is available along the side of the white garage adjacent to the greenhouses off Martin St. This is a rain or shine event. In the case of rain, the presentation and activity will be in a covered space.

More about the Boston Food Hub:

Boston Food Hub, a social enterprise of Boston Area Gleaners, is a nonprofit food distributor that connects MA family farms with reliable wholesale markets. Boston Food Hub provides wholesale buyers, distributors, and institutions access to a wider array of local farms and food purveyors. Together we strengthen the local food supply chain, the local economy, and local access to fresh, healthy food for all. Every purchase keeps more farmland in cultivation, making New England a better place to live, farm, eat, and thrive.

Register Here: https://htru.io/R89u

Friday, May 19th 10am-11:30am
Location: 37 Boston Fish Pier, Boston

Host: Jamey Lionette, Director of Sustainable Seafood Program

In this field trip, participants will have the opportunity to visit a center of the local fishing industry at the Boston Fish Pier;  Red’s Best, an innovative company aggregating, processing, and distributing fresh local catch from New England fishermen. Hear from Jamey Lionette, Red’s Best’s Director of Sustainable Seafood about the ways in which creative partnerships with schools are helping support the local fishing fleet. We’ll tour the facility, seeing where the boats dock and unload their catch and watch as the fish is processed and packed. May is peak squid season, so it should be a busy and inky visit! Come with questions about bringing local seafood to your school.

More about Red’s Best: Headquartered on the historic Boston Fish Pier, Red’s Best was founded in 2008 to serve fishermen from local coastal communities in the USA. Red’s Best aggregate catches, networking small boats with proprietary technology to form a large market presence, leveling the global playing field. They sustain the livelihoods of American fishermen while sustaining fisheries for harvest. Red’s Best connects you to your fishermen and tells the story of every catch.

Register Here: https://htru.io/R8Ui

Saturday May 21st, 10:00AM – 12:00PM
Location: YouthGROW Farm, 63 Oread St., Worcester

Presenters
Eliza Lawrence, School Garden Coordinator Worcester REC
Students from YouthGROW program

Join the Regional Environmental Council’s YouthGROW and School Gardens programs as they lead us in a tour of one of their urban farm campuses, and a school-based garden to showcase how they work together to support a thriving gardening network in the city of Worcester, MA. Youth participants will lead the tour and describe the history of the farm, and how their work addresses issues of food insecurity, empowers youth voices, and has affected the broader garden network throughout the city. Then participants will drive over to North High where they will meet the students that were involved in a summer internship and talk about how the garden is woven into the school community and curriculum, and how it works year round, highlighting the mini orchard, pollinator garden, and art projects that the students helped build.

Register Here: https://htru.io/R7qk

Saturday, May 21st, 10:00AM-12:00PM
Location: 82 Shattuck Road, Hadley, MA

Host:
Amanda Reynolds, Food Bank of Western Mass, Senior Community Engagement Coordinator 

The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts is hosting an interactive workshop on regenerative farming methods on their Food Bank Farm. Participants will receive a farm tour of their greenhouses and walking paths on the 142-acre Food Bank Farm and will get their hands dirty planting vegetables, making farm beds, harvesting seasonally available produce, and tasting the “vegetables of their labor.” Other topics will include composting, soil health, ally planting, and the cardboard planting method. Amanda will also discuss how The Food Bank Farm intends to address racial inequalities in the farming community and how they are contributing to community food security. Note: This workshop is geared towards students age 10-18 (and their chaperone(s) only. 

Register Here: https://htru.io/R61J

Saturday, May 21st, 12:30PM – 2:00PM
Location: 92 Allen Neck Road, South Dartmouth, MA 02748

Farm Tours are a great way to be introduced to the mission, vision and farming practices at Round The Bend Farm. They provide us with an opportunity to showcase farm systems as they pertain to restorative living, modeling nature, zero-waste design and redefining wealth. We will explore the gardens, meet some of our animals, and take time to articulate connections between our natural and built environments with our education programs. It’s Open Farm Day at Round the Bend, so after the tour there is an opportunity to spend more time or enjoy the farm shop.

Register Here: https://htru.io/R89v

Hosts:
Christine McCue, Livestock Manager
Cindy Dickinson, Director of Education

Saturday, May 21st, 1:00-3:00PM
Location: 1843 W. Housatonic Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201

Join us for an afternoon at Hancock Shaker Village, a very special historic site and working farm. During this interactive workshop, you’ll immerse yourself in the history and the present of this inspiring place. Learn about the Shakers, a religious group that lived here as an agricultural community from 1790 to 1960, and understand more about their commitment to equality, justice, and making the world a better place. Meet our farm staff, who are working hard to maintain the Shakers’ legacy, and find out more about our sustainable farming practices, our livestock (we’ve got sheep, goats, cows, pigs, chickens, ducks, and donkeys) and our Community Supported Agriculture programs. Observe several of our crafters at work, including our blacksmith. We’ll even make a couple of Shaker-inspired crafts (including a seed packet!). After the workshop, you are welcome to stick around the Village until 4 pm to explore more and reflect on your time here.

Ages: Appropriate for youth ages 10 and up. Must be accompanied by an adult.

Register Here: https://htru.io/R9ea

Sunday, May 22nd, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Location: O’Maley Innovation Middle School, 32 Cherry St, Gloucester, MA 01930

Host: Hailey Small, Backyard Growers, School Garden Educator

Join Garden Educator, Hailey Small from Backyard Growers, in the gardens at the O’Maley Innovation Middle School in Gloucester to learn about their People, Agriculture, and Environment curriculum including 6th grade corn, 7th grade wheat, and 8th grade soil health programs. Backyard Growers has a long history of developing award-winning school garden programs and will engage participants in the many ways in which outdoor education, and particularly agricultural education, can take place in a traditional school setting.. Participants will have an opportunity to kinesthetically and visually understand the environment in which students learn, and access the experience of a young person in an agricultural program.

Register Here: https://htru.io/R7qz

Sunday, May 22nd, 12:30PM – 2:30PM
Location: 230 Centre St, Dorchester MA

Hosts
Dario Brandao, Student
Ash Inglis, Epiphany School, Garden Program Director

Join Epiphany School graduate, Dario Brandao, for a fun and interactive workshop in their school garden. After taking part in the program for the past 3.5 years, he’ll speak about his passion for educating students on the importance of sustainability, how to grow and cook food, and how to incorporate culturally relevant food and multilingual signage to connect students with veggies. Participants will have a chance to learn to identify crops, start seeds in the greenhouse, make a recipe from the garden, and more!

Register Here: https://htru.io/R8Ry