By Kimberly Koogler
Kimberly Koogler is the Community Collaboration Manager at Georgia Organics.
The Farm to School team went west this spring to howl with the wolves!
What does that even mean?? Well, to “Go West” and howl with the wolves in Georgia Organics Farm to School fashion looks like infusing Farm to Early Care & Education and local food into the University of West Georgia (UWG) College of Education’s Early Learning Center’s Well Start for Early Learning initiative. What a mouthful!
After planning and preparing with our UWG partners, Dr. Chelsea Morris and Professor Melissa Brillhart, we began our journey west in early March with a Super Saturday of Farm to ECE trainings.
This engaging, three-part training series began with "Growing Healthy Eaters" presented by Chef Asata Reid and Abbie Chaddick. Participants learned about how to involve students in hands-on nutrition education activities that meet Georgia Early Learning Standards (GELDS).
Next, "Growing Socially Emotionally Healthy Learners", presented by Rachel Cochran and Shelly Roberts of Trellis Horticultural Therapy Alliance with Georgia Organics' Farm to School Director Kimberly Della Donna taught participants vegetable gardening basics and about how therapeutic themes like change, hope, and belief in the future connect to hands-on, gardening education.
We wrapped up this most super of Saturdays with "Family Engagement through Farm to ECE," setting goals and making action plans to increase family and community engagement in Farm to ECE activities. Sixteen West Georgia pre-service and early childhood educators took home $75 in gift certificates to spend on fresh, local food at Carrollton’s local Cotton Mill Farmers Market.
Later in March, we continued our UWG collaboration by engaging the Early Learning Center’s students and families in hands-on food and nutrition education during their Week of the Child festivities. On “Tasty Tuesday”, we sponsored a Small Bites Adventure Club taste test kit for each classroom. Students and teachers dipped locally grown carrots into a Groovy Green Goodness dressing that they prepared together.
On “Work Together Wednesday”, Professor Brillhart and her Nutrition students led a Howlin’ Wolf Chili interactive nutrition lesson and cooperative activity for the kids. Everybody worked together to prep and pass out toppings and tasted a sample of Howlin’ Wolf Chili, getting a sneak preview of the Hello Local meal kit they would take home on Family Friday.
Family Friday was all about cooking up a delicious dinner with family. We partnered with The Common Market Southeast to source local produce for families to make the vegetarian Howlin’ Wolf Chili at home together.
Between the UWG Early Learning Center and the Carrollton Head Start, we distributed a total of 177 of these meal kits to families!
The meal kit came with info about the farmers who grew the produce, as well as access to a fun demo recipe video, starring Chef Asata Reid and her daughter, in which they demonstrate how young children can safely help in the kitchen.
Turns out that Howlin’ “Hello Local” with the West Georgia Wolves was a blast! We look forward to partnering with the UWG Early Learning Center again in the future to provide Farm to ECE education and to ensure young children in West Georgia have access to fresh, local food, while supporting local organic farmers in West Georgia.
To learn more about the UWG Early Learning Center, visit westga.edu/academics/education/early-learning-center/ and follow them on social media at facebook.com/COEEarlyLearningCenter.
To learn more about Georgia Organics, visit georgiaorganics.org, and follow us on social media @GeorgiaOrganics and at facebook.com/GeorgiaOrganics.