History of Farm to Child Care
Farm to Child Care (F2CC) is a nationwide movement connecting childcare providers and young children with local farmers for the purpose of providing healthy meals and snacks, as well as incorporating local food themes into childcare curriculum and activities. Local foods are determined by the consumer but usually refer to the same region, within a 100-mile radius, the state you live in, or some other combination. Local foods are fresher and have retained a great deal of their nutritional content, opposed to food that has traveled thousands of miles or been grown for the primary purpose of a long, beautiful shelf life. When children learn, they learn by example; through the curriculum, taste testing new foods and food preparation techniques, gardening, or farm visits. Providers, families, and educators can make a by step changes, and small modifications in what they're already doing, to include nutrition education and information about agriculture and kitchen skills into everyday activities. Whether food is purchased directly from farmers, farmers markets, Community Shared Agriculture (CSA), or picked from the garden in your own backyard, Farm to Child Care has the potential to help children learn healthy eating habits and participate in quality learning environments.
Read moreFarm to Child Care: A Providers Spotlight
Farm to Child Care Provider Interview
with Stacy Boysen
By Cassaundra Lewis - February 20th, 2017
Stacy owns and runs her own Family Child Care Program with her husband. As a provider and a trainer, she has incorporated many aspects of Farm to Child Care over the years. I reached out to Stacy and asked if she wouldn’t mind sharing her journey, about her experiences of implementing Farm to Child Care into her own childcare.
“How has the Farm to Child Care training made a difference?”
Read more6 Tips For Affordable Healthy Local Food In Your Child Care
Can you envision access to healthy local foods for children under five? How about creating opportunities to learn the importance of nutrition and what healthy foods look like? Introducing children to healthy foods through Farm to Child Care activities and curriculum empowers them to cultivate a foundation of healthy eating behaviors. Knowing your farmer and how the food is grown is an important connection to what goes into your food. The key concept to note here: know what you are eating and transfer that knowledge to your children. Because kids are excited to learn where things come from, where they grow, how they grow, and what they taste like! Children are naturally inquisitive and they can ask upwards of 400 questions a day. That gives child care providers a unique advantage, they have the ability to empower children to eat healthier because children under five spend on average 30+ hours a week with a care provide; these ages are the most influential years of developing taste preferences. So let’s find out ways to connect these kids with affordable, healthy, local food.
Read moreThis Little Sprout House of mine.
(I’m going to let it shine!)
During the spring and summer, my kids participated in growing a garden; they loved sowing the seeds and watching the plants grow. It got me thinking, ‘How can we show kids the unique capabilities these little seeds have, to those who either don’t know about gardening or are interested in learning how things grow?’
I searched the internet for ideas and came upon....
Read more2016 Top Ten!
Here it is - the Renewing the Countryside "End of Year Top 10 Review."
2016, by some accounts, is one to forget - However, we are rather proud of what we got accomplished and think you will be impressed too. From a successful fundraiser for a micro-loan fund for farmers (who can forget the amazing crew of "Mud Bucket Challenge" volunteers?) to the long list of partnering organizations who were instrumental in making this year a success. Of course, we couldn't have done it without the support of you - our volunteers, friends, supporters, and donors.
Remember, this coming year, you don't have to wait until the end of the year to see what we've been doing at Renewing the Countryside! Just follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page to make sure you don't miss anything!
Also, it is not too late to make a tax-deductible donation to Renewing the Countryside
Renewing the Countryside Welcomes MN GreenCorps Member
Hi, my name is Cassaundra Lewis, and I was selected to become a member of the MN GreenCorps program for the 2016-2017 year. I will be serving with Renewing the Countryside on the Farm to Child Care and Education program. Farm to School (F2S) has been such a national success, that parents and providers of child care want to incorporate Farm to Child Care (F2CC) or Farm to Early Care. Educating kids with educational curriculum such as the Farm to Preschool Curriculum by UEPI or the Farm to Child Care Curriculum by IATP. By using local farm fresh food from farmers, not only does it help kids by learning to eat healthier, it also helps the farmers locally. Helps reduce the environmental footprint. Helps to bring the community together. And helps to empower parents and their kids in healthy choices.
Read moreInside Cooperative Principal
Cooperative Principal (CP) 001 started off the new year at the Eastside Food Cooperative’s juice bar. Getting a taste of the juices, coffee drinks and hors d’oeuvres at the co-op’s new cafe, club members got a chance to see the in-progress renovations of the store’s new building. “We’ve got to check out what the co-op did with our money,” members joked as we walked through the soon-to-be refrigerator and dry goods storage area before settling down for business in a temporary office behind the store.
This investment club, founded in conjunction with a nonprofit by the same name, offers average folks the chance to learn about and collectively invest in cooperatively run businesses. Despite the meeting being filled with technical business topics like a “Financial Review of Investments Outstanding and Portfolio” and “2015 Tax Reporting,” members were making wisecracks and jokes, turning a dry agenda into a fun and lively conversation.
Feast Local Foods Network wins food stewardship award
FEAST Local Food Network Wins Food Stewardship Award
Bill Swanson, Lanesboro; Jane Olive, UMN SE Regional Sustainable Development Partnership; Devon Ballinger, Renewing the Countryside (RTC); Brett Olson, RTC; Jan Joannides, RTC; Tim Penny, Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF); Eli Goodwell, RTC; Pam Bishop, SMIF; Neal Cuthbert, The McKnight Foundation |
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., June 20, 2016 - The FEAST Local Foods Network and its partners won the Environmental Initiative Award in the Food Stewardship category on Thursday, May 26. This program, hosted by the nonprofit Environmental Initiative, annually honors projects that have achieved extraordinary outcomes by harnessing the power of partnership.
The FEAST Local Foods Network is a collaborative network across Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin of local foods advocates. The FEAST Network organizes the annual Feast! Local Foods Marketplace. Partners accepting the award included Renewing the Countryside, Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF), University of Minnesota Southeast Regional Sustainable Development Partnership, The McKnight Foundation, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Mayo Clinic and People's Food Co-op. The network was created to support local food producers and foodmakers by boosting access to financing, resources, and peer-to-peer learning opportunities.
"Our collaborative approach to local food is really focused on the entrepreneur," said Jan Joannides of Renewing the Countryside, a lead partner in the Network. "It's about helping create small, sustainable food businesses to adopt practices that are better for all of us."
The creation of a thriving local food economy needs to be both community-based and driven by everyone involved - from farmers to consumers. The FEAST Local Foods Network is building partnerships across the local food system to foster innovation and entrepreneurship. More than 1,300 people have been reached through the network's various tradeshows and events. Save the date for 2016's Feast! Local Foods Marketplace, taking place December 2-3 at Rochester's Mayo Civic Center.
"Collaboration isn't always easy. This rich and diverse network is a wonderful example of what can be accomplished for our environment, economy, and all Minnesotans when we choose to work together," said Environmental Initiative's Executive Director, Mike Harley.
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FEAST Local Foods Network award finalist for food stewardship
The FEAST Local Foods Network, a collaborative network across Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin of local foods advocates and organizer of the annualFeast! Local Foods Marketplace, was selected as a finalist for an Environmental Initiative Award. FEAST was one of three finalists in the Food Stewardship category. The winners for the six Environmental Initiative Award categories will be announced on Thursday, May 26.
2015 Feast! Whiskeys

err..un-official – again.
Best laid plans and all… I still couldn’t pull together a full team of judges for the 2015 Feast! BUT I’m marching forward with my own awards. AGAIN.
I have to say that all the exhibitors are amazing food makers and I celebrate each of them for their hard work in making great food. They are all truly heroes of local foods! But… I'll need to pare down the list to just a few.
The categories I created last year are still going to work – maybe not perfectly, but I got out the old shoe-horn and made them work again this year.
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