PROGRAMS
SCHOOL GARDENS
​
Davis Farm to School supports gardens throughout all schools in the Davis Joint Unified School District (DJUSD). We offer a competitive matching garden grant program to all interested school sites in Davis and Yolo county.
​
​
​
Each year, Davis Farm to School sponsors local farm visits for 2nd graders. Students gain a deeper understanding of the link between the environment, farming and where their food comes from by meeting farmers, participating in farm activities and tasting a farm-fresh snack. The farm visits support grade-level content standards in history, language arts and science.
​
​
​
Davis Farm to School and FARM Davis collaborate to offer the Grow& Give program. This program is for 5th graders, and it involves the students planning a meal for seniors. FARM Davis visits the classroom and brainstorms a meal with the students then students go to the farm to both harvest fall produce and plant winter/salad veggies. This 1st visit happens in September. In December, they return to the farm to harvest and pre-prep the food, which they then take to the senior facility to finish prepping. They set the table, accompany seniors to the table and serve them lunch.
This event is educational for the students and a positive connection to the community.
​
​
FARM FRESH LUNCHES
​
Davis Farm to School works in partnership with the DJUSD Student Nutrition Services to support their efforts to increase quantities of local fruits and vegetables in school meals and to provide nutrition education to all students. DJUSD has salad bars at every site that serves hot lunch. The salad bars include “crunch mix” salad greens, local and seasonal fruits and vegetables, and made-from-scratch whole-grain salads. School meals also include delicious made-from-scratch hot lunch entrees. Give school lunch a try! Go to the Student Nutrition Services link above to view menus.
​
​
Grain to Bread family workshop is a hands-on activity that lets children experience the art of bread-making and the satisfaction of eating something they created themselves. In 2013 children began with locally grown wheat harvested from Full Belly Farm and ended up with a wood-fired oven baked pizza, courtesy of Caffe Italia.
​
​
WASTE REDUCTION: RECYCLING IS SIMPLE ELEMENTARY
​
Davis Farm to School and DJUSD co-sponsor the district-wide waste reduction and recycling program called DavisRISE (Recycling Is Simply Elementary). Each school site DavisRISE coordinator works with students, custodians, administrators and staff to implement a customized recycling and composting program. The recent ALL (All Lunch Leftovers) Compost Program, part of the commercial food scrap collection program sponsored by the City of Davis and Davis Waste Removal, has led to increased savings in solid waste removal costs. The monetary savings to DJUSD produced by the DavisRISE program provides all DavisRISE coordinators with a stipend for their work. Custodians can also earn recognition and monetary awards for their recycling work.