Resources
There are a wide variety of resources to support nutrition education, gardening, and purchasing local foods for early care providers and the kids they care for. See below for links to some Minnesota-specific resources, as well as links to some other great resources to support farm to early care!
Simple Activity Handouts
Lunch and Learns
Minnesota Providers - come join us for bi-monthly short naptime connection! Register here, and join us when you can for short half hour meetings. Topics will change each time, and the goal is to connect providers to one another and share farm to early care knowledge with one another. If you can’t join us live, check out resources, write-ups, or other things to share out from these short meetings!
Activity and Resource Ideas
Providers had a wealth of resources and ideas they use, from making their own flowers to free curriculum resources to use at your early care! Check out the write-up here.
Recipes and Tips
Providers shared different ideas for serving veggies, and recipes they use in their setting. Download the one-page highlights here.
Gardening
Our March session featured all things gardening - so many great tips shared from providers! View some highlights in the PDF here.
The providers who joined us for January’s call had many great things they do with their kids! Check out a writeup of their tips here.
Our first Lunch and Learn was on knives, recipes, and more - check it out here:
Minnesota Farm to Early Care Resources
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy Farm to Early Care resources:
In a four-part Farm to Early Care recorded Webinar series, IATP’s Community Food Systems team and partners provide technical support and implementation strategies for those working in early care settings to begin (or scale up) a Farm to Early Care initiative.
A Farm to Early Care Curriculum and companion Highlights and Lessons Learned Report that work together as a “how to” guide for starting a new Farm to Early Care initiative. These free resources are particularly useful for Head Start Programs and center-based care.
The infographic poster Farm to Early Care: A year of healthy kids, happy farmers and connected communities illustrates the steps of participating in Farm to Early Care throughout the year, and the companion guide describes these steps. Available as free downloads on IATP’s website (or reach out to hello@farmtoearlycaremn.org and we can try to connect you with a hard copy of the poster!).
Farm to Head Start Case Studies. An overview resource, set of seven written case studies and three highlight videos sharing how Head Start Programs around Minnesota have designed Farm to Early Care initiatives to meet the needs of their communities.
MN Department of Education’s introduction to Farm to Early Care Video
A great introduction video you can use to promote your Farm to Early Care activities with families, partners or others at your early care.
Minnesota Ag in the Classroom
While these are K-12 oriented resources, they have a variety of book recommendations and virtual tours that would be great in an early care setting.
Including a resource that identifies Farm to Early Care activities that can be pursued during each season, and a fact sheet explaining the Farm to Early Care movement and providing tips for child care providers about how Farm to Early Care strategies can be incorporated into their programs.
Pint Size Produce ”Grab and go” resources and activities to encourage your "pint size" people to try, learn about, and enjoy fresh, local produce.
Short videos for farm to early care audiences, including Farmer Features, Preschool Activities, and simple Recipes for local produce
Tri-Valley Head Start’s Farm to Early Care Curriculum materials
Farm to Early Care (F2EC) supports Head Start success! This curriculum includes a focus fruit and vegetable each month, activities that can be done in the classroom, a list of books pertaining to fruits, vegetables, agriculture, gardening, etc., taste-testing outlines, health information and a healthy recipe.
Other Farm to Early Care Resources
Harvest for Healthy Kids resources from Oregon. Create a (free, easy) login to access free activities and handouts, including parent handouts in English, Spanish, and Russian. Includes activity plans, picture cards, teacher bites newsletter, family newsletters and recipes.
Wisconsin’s Got Dirt? Garden Toolkit is designed to provide simple, step-by-step plans for starting a garden. Even better, the toolkit also includes tips from garden experts and garden success stories from around Wisconsin.
Wisconsin’s Got Veggies? (English and Spanish) is a garden-based nutrition education curriculum. Includes seven full lesson plans, a series of shorter garden-based activities, and fun recipes and helpful tips for cooking and eating in the garden.
Wisconsin’s Rooted offers a variety of farm to ECE resources. Many of their resources are available in other languages, including Spanish and Hmong.
USDA’s Grow It, Try It, Like It! Nutrition Education Kit a garden-themed nutrition education kit. Providers can order a free printed kit online, and the resources are also available for free online. There is a center-based and Family Child Care version.
National Farm to School Network
Check out the Farm to School Network’s database for relevant resources from around the country. Use the search function to search for early care-specific resources.
Resources for Purchasing Local Foods
The MDA’s Minnesota Grown Wholesale Directory and the Minnesota Grown Directory (non-wholesale, which might be a good fit for some smaller centers/in-home providers)are both good resources to find local farmers.
The Minnesota Department of Education has developed this resource for schools to find farmers, with advice that is also relevant to early care settings.
Minnesota Farmers Market Association
Especially for smaller centers and in-home providers, going to the farmers market and talking with vendors can be helpful!MN Farmers Market Food Hubs
Aggregation by a farmers’ market is an approach to pool enough local produce to supply wholesale buyers at a local farmers market - check their website and see if one is near you!USDA Local Food Directory
See if there is a nearby food hub that works with farmers in your area to aggregate local food items, offering a way to get streamlined delivery and invoice process for your local purchases. This could be helpful for larger centers or Head Start Programs etc.
Book recommendations from providers around Minnesota
Let us know if you have one we should add by emailing hello@farmtoearlycaremn.org with “Book list” in the subject line!
Do you have a publicly available resource for Minnesota or recommendations of books we should add to our list? We would love to post it here - send it to us at hello@farmtoearlycaremn.org with “Resource” in the subject line!
FARM TO SCHOOL & EARLY CARE GRANT OVERVIEW WEBINAR
The MDA Farm to School & Early Care Grant application period for 2023 has closed. In this webinar, you’ll learn more about the MDA Farm to School & Early Care grants. Find out what’s new and exciting about this year’s grants, hear directly from a previous grant recipient, and hear answers to questions from attendees. Presenters: Kate Seybold, MDA; Erin McKee, IATP; Felicia Kittock, Becker Public Schools.