The Carroll County
Farm-to-School Project
We're helping Green Forest's soccer programs to provide great uniforms to our great kids!
The Resource Council, Green Forest's Jeremiah Refuge House for women, and the public school cafeterias in Eureka Springs and Green Forest are delighted to be working on this U.S. Department of Health Farm-to-School project.
The idea is to engage local food growers to sell directly to our cafeterias – giving our schools secure, healthy, local sources for food.
When we started, the Eureka schools already had a teaching greenhouse. Their staff has been invaluable to Jeremiah House, helping them launch their own Green Forest greenhouse, producing Romaine lettuce for the Green Forest
cafeteria, teaching growing, harvesting and preparation skills to local abused women.
Our school districts like the concept of local sourcing. However, it’s very time-consuming to visit local orchards, seek out fruit and vegetable growers, or negotiate with local poultry processors, egg production plants, pork processors and beef producers.
Among the goals of this project are:
• getting Carroll County producers to bid on supplying Carroll County schools with healthy, local food,
• getting local growers to guarantee year-round availability,
•
coordinating local procurement with regular sourcing
coordinating local procurement with regular sourcing •finding local processed/precut products that do not unduly burden cafeteria staff.
finding local processed/precut products that do not unduly burden cafeteria staff. Other issues we are tackling:
•the challenges of selling and delivering small amounts locally when suppliers can sell large quantities to warehousers directly or
the challenges of selling and delivering small amounts locally when suppliers can sell large quantities to warehousers directly or •solving cash-flow issues such as school policies against cash-on-delivery.
solving cash-flow issues such as school policies against cash-on-delivery. CLICK HERE if you would like to sell your local fruit, produce, honey, protein or other product to a local school cafeteria! Or if you'd like to see our list of who does!
We're collaborating with Jeremiah House to provide locally sourced food to local school cafeterias.
Double click here to add text.
Double click here to add text.
A fun part of the project is our collaboration with Green Forest Youth Soccer. Coaches, referees, parents and players are field-testing a unique curriculum that mixes soccer skills with nutrition lessons! Take a look!
