Summer is winding down and schools, families, and communities are busy preparing for the 2024-25 school year. A new school year brings new opportunities to include farm to school (FTS) activities into your program, like incorporating local food items into the lunch menu, installing raised beds in your school garden and inviting farmers to visit your classroom to expand your agriculture education curriculum. Below are some tips and resources to help you prepare for the upcoming school year.

Share Your Program During Back to School Events:
The first few weeks of being back to school are busy but it is an excellent time to share your farm to school program with the school community.

• Back to School Night is a great opportunity to share what your farm to school program is all about. Share photos and anecdotes with caregivers and offer taste tests of what their students will try during the upcoming year. If you work with a SNAP-Ed or community partner, invite them to join your back to school night and provide support like helping to staff an educational or promotional table.
• Host a Back to School Farm Stand! Contact a local farmer to sell their produce to families and students after school. Check out how Welsh Elementary partnered with HayDay Farms to host a farm stand during Back to School Night in this success story!

• This year, the PA Farm to School Network (PFSN) is hosting a Multimedia Storytelling Contest to encourage FTS practitioners to share their stories with their community using a variety of media. This could include a photo series, poetry, video, testimonials, art and more.
• Celebrate Apple Crunch Day in October by partnering with a local farmer! Apples are the PA Harvest of the Month product for October. Plan an event (or multiple events!) encouraging youth and families to eat apples and apple products (applesauce, juice and cider), as a healthy snack while also connecting folks with local agriculture. Check out some examples of how communities celebrated Apple Crunch Day in 2023 in this blog post.
• Provide Input for National FTS Month 2024: In preparation for this October’s celebrations, we are looking for your input. Whether you are looking for ideas to celebrate, a farmer to procure local food items from, or lesson ideas for your classroom, we would love to hear from you. Please provide your input using this survey to help us provide the best resources for your celebrations.
• Join the PFSN’s virtual Open House on September 26 from 3 – 4:30 pm to hear from FTS practitioners about how they celebrate National FTS Month! Learn about the “Three Cs” of farm to school; classroom, community, and cafeteria and ow you can develop a holistic farm to school program using this model.

• Check out the USDA’s Farm to School Planning Toolkit, which guides you through questions to consider and helpful resources to reference when starting or growing your FTS program.
• It’s not too late to start a fall garden! You can plant quick-growing fall vegetables like lettuce, kohlrabi, and kale to enjoy throughout the fall.
• The Pennsylvania Harvest of the Month (HOM) resources are an excellent starting point for new FTS programs and make a great addition to robust programs. Use the posters, fact sheets, recipes and more to promote a local agricultural product each month. The PA HOM Activity Guides can support your HOM educational activities in the classroom and cafeteria.