Farm to School Program

Our 2024-2026 Farm to School Program is all about feeding curiosity about food, where it comes from, and how it’s grown. We’re bringing Mahwah Public Schools to Fresh Roots Farm and bringing the farm to the schools with hands-on learning in our elementary school gardens.

A group of children attending an outdoor educational presentation about the dandelion life cycle, led by a woman holding a picture of a dandelion. The scene is set in a wooded area with trees and a fence in the background.
A group of children participating in an outdoor educational activity, standing on a leaf-covered ground, listening to an instructor next to a table with educational materials and visual aids, with lush trees and a partly cloudy sky in the background.
Children and adults gathered outdoors in a wooded area for an educational session about composting, with a wheelbarrow labeled "COMPOST" filled with plant materials and a sign indicating composting.
A group of children and two women outdoors in a wooded area, participating in an educational activity. One woman is holding a picture of nuts or seeds, and the children are gathered around listening attentively.
Person working on a woodworking project outdoors with a cat sitting on a wooden piece, LED flashlight, and tools, in front of a green shipping container and a wooded area.
Person tending to a raised garden bed with plants, covered by a protective netting, outdoors near a building with large windows.
A person holding a leaf and lavender sprig over a woven basket filled with crayon shavings, surrounded by children drawing and coloring with printed coloring sheets and a roll of purple tape on a tan tablecloth.
Three white wooden garden beds filled with various green leafy plants in a backyard, beside a chain-link fence and grass, with a brick building and an air conditioning unit in the background.

Timeline

Group of children and a woman standing outdoors in a woodsy area with green trees and fallen leaves. The children are gathered around the woman, listening to her, with many holding their hands to their heads.
A woman is working outdoors, using a drill on a wooden structure made of three vertical and one horizontal piece of lumber, on top of cinder blocks, near a green tarp-covered shelter, with trees and leaf-covered ground in the background.
Two people loading wooden planters onto a trailer next to a building in a snowy, wooded area.
A woman in a black hoodie and sweatpants is pouring soil into a wooden garden bed. There are piles of soil and gardening tools in the background, and leafless trees can be seen in the distance.

July 2024

Awarded USDA Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant

MEVO received an implementation grant from the USDA Patrick Leahy Farm to School Program, our first USDA award. With our existing relationship to Mahwah Public Schools, we set out to get both students and the schools’ food service providers thinking critically about local-grown food.

September 2024

Program Launch with Mahwah Third Graders

Every third grade class from Mahwah’s three public elementary school came to Fresh Roots Farm for a day on the farm learning about What a Plant Needs to Grow, Pollinators, Seeds and Dispersal, and Compost. MEVO’s Program Educator Lauren and Executive Director Violet attended the Farm to School Grantee Conference in Nebraska.

Winter 2024-25

Building Beds

We built raised garden beds for Lenape Meadows and George Washington Elementary Schools and restored the existing raised garden bed at Betsy Ross Elementary School.

Spring 2025

In-Garden Education

Our third graders came out to learn about seeds and how they grow. They planted beets directly in the beds and sowed cell trays with other seeds, then came back to harvest beets and plant the sprouted plants.

Summer-Fall 2025

Young Growers’ Series

We hold free workshops for school-age children throughout the summer to continue inspiring creative thinking about food. These included Preparing for Fall Gardening, Buzz and Bloom, Farm to Table Salsa and Pesto, and Garden Natural Remedies. Meanwhile, we maintained the raised gardens, leading up to our cafeteria taste tests with students to try out their school-grown produce!

Beyond 2025

Local Lunches

As we better understand the growing conditions at each school’s raised garden beds, we aim to harvest enough produce for the school lunch providers to incorporate into cafeteria lunches. We also hope to invite high school students into the garden maintenance process.

A wooden garden bed with dark soil and young lettuce and leafy greens growing. Another similar garden bed is visible in the background.
A young girl standing next to a vegetable garden with tomato plants supported by wire cages, some of which are covered with protective plastic covers, in a backyard with green trees and a building in the background.
A group of children and teenagers sitting at a wooden picnic table in a forest, listening to a woman who is teaching them about plants or nature, holding a container and gesturing with her hand.
Raised garden bed with parsley on the left, dill in the middle, and cilantro on the right.

Upcoming Events

See all events