It’s the beginning of a new year and a great time to try out new ways to support farm to school activities!
Whether you’re a producer looking to sell a seasonal product to your local school or you’re a food service director, educator or early care provider working to provide your students with fresh food and agricultural education – here’s a program to help you kickstart your 2023 farm to school activities:
Pennsylvania Harvest of the Month (PA HOM), a program developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and Project PA out of Penn State University, works to promote a local agricultural product each month through schools, child and adult care centers/day care homes, and summer feeding sites. The program aims to provide participants with local, healthy products while supporting Pennsylvania farmers and producers.
How the Program Works:
The PA HOM calendar features a Pennsylvania-grown/produced agricultural product each month for food service directors, educators, and farmers to reference. The month does not appear on any materials so you have flexibility to promote any item when it works for you. Find additional resources to support your PA HOM programming on the website including:
- Posters for classrooms and cafeterias
- Serving line signage and table tents
- Recipes
- Sample social media posts
- Preschool activity sheets
- School food service fact sheets
For additional ideas to help you implement and procure items for PA HOM visit paharvestofthemonth.org