Bringing the Farm to School Curriculum

Friends of Family Farmers is happy to announce the acquisition of a very generous grant from the Bill Healy Foundation.  This grant funds a new program called Bringing the Farm to School and will enable us to provide both urban and rural students with a high quality and multidisciplinary sustainable agriculture education.  The Bill Healy Foundation is based in Oregon and promotes environmental conservation, the well-being of children and the fragile interdependence between the two.

The curriculum that will evolve from this program will support teachers with thoughtfully constructed curriculum guides and lesson plans that encourage critical thinking skills and environmental stewardship through agricultural education. Through this project, we hope to expand and develop the sense of wonder and appreciation of how we as people can live, eat, and co-exist in a socially responsible manner.  The Pre K-12 curriculum will be developed over three years time with our first year focusing on curriculum for students in preschool through grade three.  Lesson plans will be accessible to and easily implemented by any and all rural and urban classrooms and are not dependent on having an on site garden or Farm to School nutrition program.

Bringing the Farm to School will offer a much needed counterpoint to the curriculum provided by industrial agribusiness currently available nationally and has developed directly in response to requests from educators and parents who desire a values based, sustainably focused approach to agriculture education.  Friends of Family Farmers staff member, Cathy McQueeney, a family farmer in Clackamas County and a career child developmentalist and educator with a specialization in bi-cultural education, will oversee the project.

Individuals interested in learning more about this project can contact Cathy McQueeney at 503-759-3276 or by email.