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Farm Fresh Challenge Resources
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Farm Fresh Challenge Resources for Nutrition Directors
We’ve created the following helpful resources to make participating in the Farm Fresh Challenge easy and fun. Whether you’re looking for guidance on how to source and serve more local Texas products, or for ideas about activities to engage children in garden-based learning, you’re sure to find what you need below.
Connect with Local Producers:
Find local Texas farmers, ranchers and distributors using our Farm Fresh Network!
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Tips for Schools to Successfully
Purchase Local Foods from Distributors
You can also add local flavor to menus and teach students about Texas agriculture by using local products in school meals, including nutrition education in classroom lessons, garden-based learning and connecting students with local farmers and ranchers. These tips will help you incorporate local products into existing purchases. Download Here!
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Use the + button to expand each section.
Eat Local Resources
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Cooking for the Seasons - These recipes help menu planners meet the meal patterns for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), School Breakfast Program (SBP), Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), and the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). The standardized quantity recipes are written to help you serve healthy, seasonally focused meals that will appeal to children. All of the recipes have been tested up to 25 servings.
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Multicultural Recipes for Child Care Centers, Family Day Homes & Adult Daycare Centers - This cookbook contains recipes featuring foods that reflect the cultural diversity of the Lone Star State. Children and adults have tested and approved these delicious and healthy recipes. Look for the Texas icon for foods grown in Texas.
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CACFP Meal Appeal & NSLP Meal Appeal - Meal Appeal for both National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) consists of easy-to-use information and resources that provide child nutrition professionals inspiration and tools to create healthy meals that look appealing, taste great, and comply with their respective federal guidelines. The result, more children embracing the 3E’s of Healthy Living – Education, Exercise and Eating Right, and a stronger Texas.
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Sample Menus from Best of the Bunch Winners in 2017
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Teach Local Resources
Educational Activities and Tools |
Use these ideas and tools to easily incorporate farm fresh activities and celebrate Texas agriculture in your school or cafeteria. |
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Farm Fresh Learning Resources - Whether students are in the classroom, have access to a school garden, or are learning at home, these resources have been compiled to support Farm Fresh learning in any environment. This downloadable resource includes hands-on activities, educational videos, learning guides and curricula on Farm Fresh topics like agriculture, cooking and nutrition, and gardening. |
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Texas Produce Flash Cards - Use these cards to familiarize students with a variety of fruits and vegetables grown across Texas. Appropriate for grade 6-12 students. |
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Unscramble the Texas-Grown Produce - A fun word scramble with 36 different Texas-grown produce items. |
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Build Your Own Seasonality Wheel - Use this wheel to discover what Texas grown fruits and vegetables are usually in season each month. Available in English and Spanish. |
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Ole! Texas Plant Cards - Use this wheel to discover what Texas grown fruits and vegetables are usually in season each month. |
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Harvest of the Month - These materials spotlight fruits and vegetables grown in Texas and are designed to be displayed in a K-12 setting. Visit Squaremeals.org/HarvestoftheMonth for resources for early learners too! |
Downloadable Videos |
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Head over to the Farm to School Month video player to help students learn more about Texas agriculture and the role of fresh, local food in a healthy and active lifestyle. |
Let's Get Growing |
Connect kids to Texas Agriculture and introduce them to new foods through garden-based learning. Download TDA’s four-part resource to help you plan, grown, harvest and connect with a sustainable garden. |
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Plan: provides steps for developing educational gardens that can be sustained through changes in staff and participation. |
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Grow: highlights current industry research and recommendations for ensuring participants’ safety in the garden. |
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Harvest: offers a guide to promoting coordination and cooperation to ensure the safe production of fruits and vegetables. |
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Connect: helps develop communication plans to make families and community members aware of educational garden opportunities. |
For more information on the Let’s Get Growing series visit the Garden-Based Learning page. |
Be Social Resources
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Assistance available in English and Spanish. Please call 877-TEX-MEAL (877-839-6325) for help. Additional translations services available as well.
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In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.
Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDA-OASCR%20P-Complaint-Form-0508-0002-508-11-28-17Fax2Mail.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:
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1. Mail:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or
2. Fax: (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or
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This institution is an equal opportunity provider. |
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