It's time to celebrate everything Farm to School! This October we hope you will find a way to celebrate the powerful connections local food creates through learning, growing, and eating together!

 

Oregon's annual CRUNCH event will take place on October 17th, 2024!

Join students across the state by crunching on a local apple, carrot or other crunchy produce item for Oregon Farm to School Month.

Check out who's participating below! Don't see your school or district listed? It's not too late to sign up!

Crunch Map 2024 (1)

Armadillo Community Charter School
Athena Elementary
Athena Elementary School
Bethel SD
Boeckman Creek Primary School*
Bolton Primary*
Boones Ferry Primary*
Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Treasure Valley
Bridgeport Elementary
Cedaroak Park Primary*
Chenowith Elementary School
Clackamas River Elementary
Clemens Primary School*
Coburg Community Charter School
Conger Elementary*
Crestview Elementary School
Dayton Grade School
Duniway Middle School
Eddyville Charter School
Escatada School District
Eugene SD 4J
Ferndale Elementary
Food Roots
Garfield Elementary
Giggles & Grace ELC
Glide Elementary School
Grass Pass Elementary Schools(6)
Hamilton Creek School
Harper School
Harrison Park Garden
Harvey Scott Elementary
hayu-munk skukum-Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde
Hillside Elementary

 

*Indicates a different Crunch date.

Holt Elementary School
Hood River County School District
Hood River County School District
Jackson and Josephine County Headstart centers
Jewell School District
Josephine County Farm Collective*
KairosPDX
Kelly Elementary School
Lake Grove Elementary
Lakeridge Middle School
Lane Child and Family center
Letitia Carson Elementary
Lewis & Clark Elementary
Lincoln Elementary School
Lincoln Elementary School*
Lowrie Primary*
MA Lynch Elementary
Mapleton Elementary School
Marcola Elementary School
McNary Heights Elementary School
Mills Elementary*
Monmouth Independence Community Preschool
Mosier Community School
Mountain View Elementary
Neighborhood House Head Start
Newport High School
Newport High School
Newport Middle School
Oak Grove Elementary
Oakridge Elementary School
Oceanlake Elementary
Owl's Nest Early Learning and Child Care
Parkrose School District
Patrick Lynch Elementary School
Pelican Elementary*
Pleasant Valley Elementary

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Powell Butte Elementary School
Prairie City School
Ranch House Early Learning
River Mill Elementary
Roosevelt Elementary*
Sam Case Elementary
Sandy Grade Elementary
Sauvie island school *
Seven Oak Middle *
Several Portland Public Schools
South Albany High School
St. Helens Head Start*
St. Helens SD
Stafford Primary*
Sunset Primary*
Taft Elementary
Taft High School
Terrebonne Community School
The Farm at SOU
Toledo Elementary School
Toledo High School
Tom McCall
Trillium Creek Primary*
University of Oregon Head Start
Waldport High School
Weston McEwen High School
Weston Middle School
Willamette Elementary
Willamette Primary*
Willamina Elementary School
William Knight Elementary
Yaquina View Elementary

.

Other Oregon Farm to School Month Events

Share your Farm to School celebration!

Whether you decide to participate in the Oregon Farm to School Crunch, or not, we want to support you celebrating Farm to School this October. There are so many ways to celebrate and offer students and community members a way to experience the benefits of Farm to School.

Here are a few ideas:

  • Serve a 100% local lunch
  • Feature a Harvest of the Month item multiple times all October 
  • Invite local food producers to lunch at your school or early care center
  • Visit a local farm or farmer's market
  • Get busy learning and growing in the school garden
  • Coordinate a celebration that fits your community

Tell the Network how you plan to celebrate!

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Looking for inspiration? Check out 2023's Farm to School Month lineup (below)!

Farm to School Month Calendar, October 2023

Date: Throughout the Month

Location: Portland, Multnomah

Event: Grow Portland is partnering with 14 local schools to celebrate farm to school month with an abundance of local apples from Hood River! All of their 6,000 students will also be focusing on plant part lessons and eating plenty of fresh fruits and veggies from their gardens.

Date: October 5th

Location: Statewide!

Event: The Oregon Farm to School Crunch!

oregonfarmtoschool.org (1)

Date: October 5

Location: Central Point

Event: Farm Field Trip!

Students at Patrick Elementary in Central Point are taking a field trip to Hanley Farm!

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Date: October 6, 9-10pm

Location: Virtual

Event: Tracking Oregon Purchases for Child Nutrition Programs

Are you unsure how to track your Oregon purchases for the farm to CNP grant reports? Wondering if there might be an easier way to track local purchases throughout the year so you can report accurately to ODE?

If we want to sustain and grow funding for farm to school in Oregon, we need accurate data to share with legislators that shows the full picture of local purchases.
We know Child Nutrition Programs don't have extra time for tracking so we're here to offer some tried and true methods to simplify keeping track of your local spending. Join us to learn from experienced school nutrition directors and staff about various ways to track Oregon and local purchases for the Farm to CNP grant program and other purchasing programs!

Date: October 7

Location: Talent, OR

Event: Talent Harvest Festival

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Date: October 17

Location: Willamina, OR

Event: From Apples to Zucchini: What Small Growers Need to Know to Sell to Schools

This October, The Oregon Department of Agriculture, along with partners Carrie Sendak, owner of Mama Tee's Farmstead, and Willamina School District Nutrition Services Director, Lynne Shore, are hosting a workshop series for the Farm to School Program. If you are a small diversified fruit or vegetable grower interested in selling directly to a school in your region you won't want to miss this opportunity.

Date: October 20th

Location: Virtual

Event: Northwest Youth Garden Network (NWYGN) Fall Virtual Gathering

The opportunity for networking, building relationships, and being in community with like minded peers is invaluable. There weren't — and to this day still aren’t — many networks for working with demographic of older youth (ages 14-21), until NWYGN!

Join us to learn about promising high school aged school garden programs from Kim Gaffi (she/her)—co-founder of GRuB—and the Jones Valley Teaching Farm. This webinar includes an open forum Q&A.

Date: October 7th, 2022

Location: Logos Public Charter School, Medford.

Event: Harvest Meal: Pizza Making!

October 7, 2-4pm. Logos Public Charter School will use homemade sauce from their garden tomatoes and herb toppings from around the garden to make personal pizzas for every student! Cooked on BBQ grills 🙂

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Host a site visit!

Farm to School month is more than just a celebration, it's a showcase of the groundbreaking farm to school work happening in Oregon. Invite a Legislator or Administrator to the cafeteria, garden or farm!

Site visits can be powerful tools for sharing the benefits of Farm to School with decision makers. If you are interested in coordinating a visit, we're here to help. Contact Melina@OregonFarmtoSchool.org
In the meantime, check out these resources from the National Farm to School Network:
seafood to school