Above: Scott Zomerlei, Garden Planner/Engineer, left, and Phil Raymond II, right, General Manager/Sales Representative, Blue Mitten Farms. When you consider agricultural land, a suburban community like Okemos isn’t usually the first place that comes to mind. Situated...
Lettuce Work Together: Artesian Farm and New Buffalo Area Schools’ Spirited Partnership
Talk about spirit. It all started with an October 2015 farm to school event at New Buffalo Area Schools, located in Michigan’s southwest corner. The school served its students kale chips from beautiful greens grown by local grower Artesian Farm—which was then doing...
Delicious School Food Is Possible—and Essential!
Above: The school lunch that changed Nikki. Back in August, the day before students returned to their place of learning for the fall, I eagerly stood with school employees and Groundwork colleagues in the first lunch line of the year at Boyne Falls Public School. It...
Celebrating Farm to School Month in Michigan
First published in the Traverse City Record-Eagle Above photo: Local food at Beaver Island Community School Imagine this: Your children come home from school to tell you about the kale flowers they ate in the school garden today with Miss Hope, and then ask if your...
Michigan Department of Education Announces 2021–22 10 Cents a Meal Grantees
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE LANSING, Mich. (Sept. 30, 2021) - The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) has announced 229 grantees for the initial round of 10 Cents A Meal for Michigan's Kids & Farms grants for the 2021-22 school year. The state-funded...
State Funds for Healthy, Locally Grown Food in Your Child’s School (apply by 8/23!)
The passion is breathtaking. Hundreds of schools, early childhood education centers, after school programs, and others have hit “submit” or “save” on applications to the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) for the 10 Cents a Meal for Michigan’s Kids &...