Growing Minds is Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project's (ASAP) Farm to School program, and the Southeast regional lead agency for the National Farm to School Network.

We work to connect farms and schools and give children positive experiences with healthy foods, including farm field trips, nutrition education, school gardens, and local food in cafeterias.

Educators, farmers, parents, and all community members are invited to join us.

Local Food in Schools Schools provide farmers with a viable market in their community, while local farmers supply our schools with the freshest food possible.

Farm Field Trips This component teaches kids where food comes from and who is growing food in our communities.

Nutrition Education Cooking demonstrations and classes help students learn to enjoy preparing and eating healthy local foods.

School Gardens Students will eat what they grow. We give them skills, experience, and a connection to their agricultural heritage.

Our current projects include:

- Serving as the Regional Lead Agency for the National Farm to School Network

- Offering experiential nutrition education with chefs in the classroom

- Supporting school gardens

- Providing resources through the web

- Building connections to help schools serve local food

- Training educators, chefs, and Cooperative Extension

This project is supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Sourcing local product for the school cafeteria can be the most challenging piece of this grant opportunity for many communities. To clarify, your school system does not have to be currently sourcing local product, but the Child Nutrition Director (CND) must be committed to trying to increase local purchasing. Distribution and food safety requirements are two of the major hurdles that CNDs are faced with for local procurement and currently they are only allowed to purchase local product through GAP certified farms or approved vendors.

We understand that some communities are more limited than others by a lack of approved vendors. ASAP can assist grantees in identifying GAP certified farms and working with approved vendors to source more local product, but grantees need to ensure that their CND is on board to make a concerted effort with menu planning, promotions and working with the community team to do the best they can to try to feature two local items a month. This language has been updated within the RFP, but please feel free to contact Molly Nicholie with specific questions. 

Click to download the updated RFP.