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Farm to School Fellow
Senior Community Food Systems Manager
Mariana Harvey and Kim Gaffi from Tahoma Peak Solutions present the “Tend Gather Grow & Plant Teachings for ECE” workshop. Photo credit: Ben Anang via FLI Social
Read the recap of the first-ever retreat for the Farm to Early Care and Education Institute in Oregon and Washington states.
Ecotrust and regional project partners1 across Oregon and Washington hosted the inaugural Farm to Early Care and Education (ECE) Institute retreat on Saturday, October 26, which also kicked off the year-long professional learning experience for early childhood professionals to grow comprehensive farm to ECE programming in both states. Adapted from a model developed by Vermont FEED and Shelburne Farms, this multi-state Farm to ECE Institute is the first of its kind between Oregon and Washington.
Farm to ECE connects early childhood professionals to local food producers and community partners with the goals of serving culturally relevant, locally produced foods to young children, providing hands-on experiences with food and gardening, and improving child nutrition. While part of the farm to school movement, farm to ECE programs are specifically designed for early care providers who support age-appropriate social and emotional development for young children and differ in scope and content from farm to school programming offered in K-12 environments.
Southern Oregon Head Start and their coach Abigail Blinn discuss their action plan during team time. Photo credit: Ben Anang via FLI Social
The fall retreat kicked off the year-long program for seven ECE sites. Each site has a team that is developing an action plan using the 3 C’s model of change (integrating classroom, cafeteria/kitchen, and community) that will help them achieve their farm to ECE goals. Teams represent both single-site providers (such as family child care, in-home, and community-based organizations) and multi-site providers (such as Head Start). Each team is composed of at least three people who represent administrative, teacher, and child nutrition or food service roles at their site.
In the weeks leading up to the in-person retreat, teams prepared virtually by meeting with their coaches and attending two workshops. Together, teams started developing group agreements and crafting their value statements. At the first workshop, teams learned more about the Institute model, an overview of the year, and the activities they could expect as part of the Institute. Teams also had the chance to introduce themselves and get to know each other. In the second workshop, teams began applying a rubric to their own program, helping them get a systems-wide view of their current work. This identifies the next steps to deepen the program and give it greater staying power and prepares the teams to launch into action planning during the retreat.
Held at Zenger Farm in Southeast Portland, the retreat was a busy day for teams, full of discussion and learning. Participants shared about their sites and farm to ECE journeys and made significant progress on their action plans with their coaches. The agenda also included a workshop by Tahoma Peak Solutions and an activity called “Curbside Consulting.”
Coach Cid Melo listens to their team member from Mt. Hood Community College Head Start and Early Head Start during team collaboration time. Photo Credit: Celina Flores via FLI Social
Suncatcher Forest School team members discuss their action plan with their coach Rey Cooley. Photo credit: Celina Flores via FLI Social
Neighborhood House Head Start team gathered in the Farmhouse to discuss their action plan. Photo credit: Ben Anang via FLI Social
Coach Kathy Keefe discusses the rubric with her team member from JJ Bilingual Academy. Photo credit: Celina Flores via FLI Social
Educators Mariana Harvey and Kim Gaffi from Tahoma Peak Solutions led a workshop called “Tend Gather Grow & Plant Teachings for ECE,” which introduced two teaching toolkits that focus on native and naturalized plants of the Pacific Northwest. Through hands-on activities, teams explored how their sites might engage with themes of herbal medicine, plant technologies, and wild food traditions of willow, rose, and cedar. Attendees had the chance to make rosehip jam and cedar soaking salts and learn more about Native American plant knowledge and stories in the Northwest. This workshop was a highlight for many retreat participants, who described the activities as fun, inspirational, and knowledge building.
Team members and coaches make cedar soaking salts during the “Tend Gather Grow & Plant Teachings for ECE” workshop. Photo credit: Ben Anang via FLI Social
Team members from Adelante Mujeres and Mt. Hood Community College Head Start and Early Head Start make rose hip jam during the “Tend Gather Grow & Plant Teachings for ECE” workshop. Photo credit: Ben Flores via FLI Social
In the afternoon, we invited farm to ECE experts who work in food production, garden education, city and state government, and community-based organization roles to join our Curbside Consulting activity. Participants consulted with the speakers from Oregon Department of Education, Child Care Aware of NW WA, Wild Lilac Child Development Center, Seattle Department of Education and Early Learning, Our Table Cooperative, Full Cellar Farm, Shelburne Farms, and Ecotrust to ask questions and listen to discussions. Attendees appreciated the chance to ask long-standing questions and build relationships with the consultants.
Ecotrust Community Outreach Coordinator Alisha Howard explains how sites can incorporate composting into their farm to ECE curriculum during the Curbside Consulting activity.Photo Credit: Ben Anang via FLI Social
Farm and Sales Manager Andrew Rea from Our Table Cooperative and Emily Cooper from Full Cellar Farm discuss connecting with producers during the Curbside Consulting activity. Photo Credit: Celina Flores via FLI Social
Coaches are key to the Farm to ECE Institute model, providing on-going facilitation, technical assistance, and support for teams as they create an action plan, build capacity and put their plans into action. Coaches were carefully selected from the same regions as the teams they coach and have experience with farm to ECE and facilitation training. Coaches met the night before the fall retreat to connect with each other and prepare materials for the retreat’s team time. During the retreat, coaches had dedicated time with their teams to work on team building, peer-to-peer learning, and action planning.
“
[Our coach] Lucy was phenomenal in the ideas and scaffolding to get our goals more focused, while letting the ideas come from our team and only guiding and not injecting her ideas.
—Carlos Zuleta,
Team member from Awesome Blossom Child Care
Coach Lucy Escobar and team members from Awesome Blossom Child Care during team time. Photo Credit: Celina Flores via FLI Social
We offered live Spanish translation and interpretation throughout the day. Luis Acosta from Acosta Services LLC translated through headsets for Spanish-speaking team members and helped interpret retreat materials and forms. One of our team coaches, Lucy Escobar, also translated retreat materials and handouts for Spanish-English bilingual team members.
The 2024-25 Farm to ECE Fall Retreat was held at Zenger Farm in Southeast Portland on October 26, 2024. Photo credit: Celina Flores via FLI Social
Thank you to the many local food producers who kept us nourished throughout the retreat:
1The Farm to ECE Institute project partners who launched this program and retreat are:
BLOG
We are honored to share audio stories from the seven members of the Farm to ECE Advisory Committee.
Press Release
Portland, OR — November 29, 2023 — Ecotrust and a group of regional partners are excited to launch the Oregon and Washington Farm to School Institutes Project to grow comprehensive farm to school and farm to early childhood programming in both states.
PROJECT
Welcome to the K – 12th grade Farm to School Institute
Farm to school programming enriches the connection that communities have with fresh, culturally relevant foods and local food producers by supporting gardening, agricultural education, and local food purchasing at schools and early childhood education sites.
