Growing for the Future with Farm to School
At Green Heart, our mission is rooted in the belief that strong communities start with healthy food and hands-on education. With that, you’ve probably heard us talk a lot about “Farm to School.” We’re a Farm to School nonprofit and run Farm to School programs.
And we don’t just talk about it, we engage in Farm to School on a daily basis. Our programs connect students, and the greater community as a whole, directly to locally grown food and provide opportunities to learn about growing food while also creating space to eat and celebrate food together.
Every October, we join in with folks across the country to celebrate National Farm to School Month! It’s a time to highlight the importance of Farm to School programs, celebrate the impact that Farm to School can have, and refresh our commitment to providing Farm to School programs across Charleston.
This year’s Farm to School Month theme, “Growing for the Future,” captures the long-term investment that Farm to School takes. As we focus on making sure students eat well today, we also want to be supporting the farmers and sustainable practices that will feed a healthier, more fruitful 🍓 tomorrow.
Farm to School 101
What is Farm to School?
To keep it short and sweet, Farm to School aims to build a strong connection between communities, specifically students and schools, and healthy food. Farm to school provides both access to fresh, local food and opportunities for students and families to learn more about fresh, healthy food options.
Though implementation will look different depending on who you ask, Farm to School generally includes one or more of the following:
- Procurement: Sourcing produce from local farms to be served in schools;
- School gardens: Students engage with hands-on garden education; and
- Education: Students participate in nutrition education activities and deepen their understanding of topics like agriculture, health, nutrition, and food.
(For a full rundown of all things Farm to School, you can visit the National Farm to School Network.)
Why Does Farm to School Matter?
The benefits of Farm to School are abundant. In fact, it’s a sort of win-win-win for students, farmers and the larger community.
- Healthier Kids and Students: Farm to School ensures that kids have access to high-quality, healthy food and can have a big impact on students’ behaviors and attitudes when it comes to making healthy food choices.
- Investment in Local Farmers: Sourcing locally grown produce in school cafeterias can mean big financial opportunity for local farmers.
- Stronger Community Engagement: Farm to school programs can provide opportunities to build community engagement, while buying from local farmers can help strengthen the local economy.
And the benefits expand even beyond that. Farm to school also can benefit economic development, public health, education, environment, and equity—more on that here.
This Year’s Theme: “Growing for the Future”
This year’s National Farm to School Month theme underscores the role of Farm to School in creating thriving communities now and in the future.
To quote the National Farm to School Network:
“All of our futures depend on the farmers who feed us, take care of our soil and waterways, and protect seeds for the next harvest—but their work often goes unseen and undervalued. By investing in programs that support local farms, producers, and fishermen, and allow school meal programs across the country to easily buy directly from them, we can create a thriving food future that puts people and planet first.”
This year’s theme serves as an important reminder that Farm to School efforts that we’re putting forward today not only drive impact now, but should also lay the groundwork for the future!
Green Heart’s Commitment to Farm to School
So how do we connect this national movement to our local action?
In our day-to-day efforts, we engage with core principles of Farm to School including hands-on garden-based learning, in-school cooking lessons, and integrating our urban farms directly into school curriculums. We’ve also historically worked directly with Charleston County School District to help increase fresh, local produce in cafeterias across the Charleston area.
And our work goes beyond just food—it’s also about developing the whole child and creating future leaders and conscientious citizens.
5 Key Areas of Green Heart’s Impact
Over the past year, our staff and Board of Directors have been engaged in strategic planning for the year ahead. As part of the process, we have identified the core areas of impact of our Farm to School program, based upon comprehensive data, including interviews with school partner staff and leadership, a review of our student survey results, and our own observations. Our five main impact areas are:
Impact 1: Nutrition Education
Students are connected with fresh, locally-grown fruits & vegetables as they participate in the growing, harvesting, and cooking processes. Our lessons teach students important lessons about how food fuels our bodies and how different fruits and vegetables provide key nutrients that keep us strong and growing 💪
Impact 2: Character Education
Through these hands-on, outdoor learning experiences students learn our core value of respect, and practice essential social-emotional learning (SEL) skills while working alongside their classmates and volunteers, their “Green Heart Buddies” in both the garden & kitchen classroom.
Impact 3: Environmental Education
Our school gardens and urban farms serve as a vehicle to connect students to the Earth and practice being stewards of their local environment. Learning about sustainable agriculture practices and engaging in growing practices, students dive deep into one of our core rules of respect: “Respect the Earth”
Impact 4: Academic Learning
The garden serves as an outdoor learning laboratory, perfect for reiterating classroom curricula with a focus on STEAM standards through applied learning experiences.
Impact 5: Technical Skills in Gardening and Cooking
From planting a seed, weeding, or harvesting, to knife skills, cleaning produce, or cooking stovetop dishes, our students build technical skills that they can carry with them throughout their life.
Join in the Celebration
As we celebrate Farm to School Month, we’re always inspired by the thousands of organizations across the country doing this important work. It’s a chance for us to reflect, recenter and celebrate the potential of Farm to School programs and how we as an organization can continue to make an impact.
We invite you to join in the celebration by supporting our work! We can’t do what we do without people like you, so please consider joining us in the garden, signing up to volunteer, or making a donation today! Happy Farm to School Month!
Posted by Buddy Greenheart
On October 15, 2025
In Education
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