FARM TO EARLY CARE & EDUCATION
Farm to Early Care & Education encourages healthy choices through hands on cooking and gardening education while improving access to healthy food at home and in the community. After all, adventurous eaters start young!
PLANS and impact
Georgia Organics’ Farm to Early Care & Education programming is made possible through the efforts of a variety of partners, including the members of the Farm to School Alliance and Farm to Early Care & Education Coalition. Working collaboratively, we developed and launched a five year strategic plan in 2021 that is driving our work.
Additionally, with the support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, we partnered with Little One’s Learning Center, Quality Care for Children, The Common Market Georgia, and Voices for Georgia’s Children to develop a living racial equity plan to drive equity in our early care and education initiatives and inspire others in the Georgia farm to early care community to adapt and implement similar plans.
We invite you to get up to speed by reading the plans, and welcome any questions or feedback as we continue to map our way forward guided by these strategic aims.
FARM TO EARLY CARE TOOLKITS
Local Food for Little Eaters in Georgia
Learn how to purchase local food from farmers and distributors within the CACFP guidelines. This toolkit created by Georgia Organics in partnership with the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning’s Bright from the Start program.
Georgia Farm to Early Care and Education Guide
This comprehensive guide covers the most important components of Farm to ECE and offers helpful tips to get started. It was created by Georgia Organics in partnership with the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning’s Bright from the Start program.
Local Food Sourcing Directory
Georgia Organics created this guide to make sure that Early Care and Education providers connect with local vendors as they work to provide fresh, healthy options for their students. Please email kimberly@georgiaorganics.org if you have suggestions for additions to this guide.
National Farm to School Network
The National Farm to School Network is an information, advocacy and networking hub for communities working to bring local sourcing, school gardens, and food and agriculture education into schools and ECE settings.
Harvest of the Month
These four Harvest of the Month (HOTM) toolkits were created to be used in ECE settings with 3- to 5-year olds. Georgia Organics and QCC created this toolkit, which is aligned with the GA Department of Ed’s K-12 Harvest of the Month calendar.
Farm to ECE FAQs
Our partners at DECAL have created this document to help providers safely implement ECE according to guidelines and regulations with Frequently Asked Questions about Farm to ECE. Download for answers to key Farm to ECE questions.
The Creative Curriculum
Learn how to integrate Farm to ECE into your program with best practices from The Creative Curriculum for Preschool. This guide was developed by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation in collaboration with The Policy Equity Group.
Georgia Farm to Early Care and Education “Crosswalk”
The Crosswalk shows how Farm to Early Care and Education activities align with the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale – 3 (ECERS-3).
Our First Harvest/Nuestra Primera Cosecha
Purchase this bilingual, year-round curriculum consisting of 30 garden-related lessons plus all kinds of resources and helpful hints to support ECE providers.
The Food Trust
This multicultural collection of farm to ECE books highlights children’s books that feature characters and writing by underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, including books that are either bilingual or in Spanish.
Grow It, Try It, Like It!
Grow It, Try It, Like It! Fun with Fruits and Vegetables at Family Child Care is designed to help ECE operators provide garden-based nutrition education for children ages 3 to 5 in family child care settings.
Farm to Early Care Sourcing Strategies
In this document, we share local food sourcing best practices, challenges, and successes from a 2019-2021 research project tracking the activities of four Georgia ECE purchasers.
Local Food to Early Care Solutions Initiative: Farm to ECE Supply Chains Report
This report details findings of the Local Food to Early Care Solutions Initiative, a study to facilitate Farm to ECE sourcing in Georgia.
CONTACT US
Reach out to our team to learn more about our mission and work!
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