Children from birth through grade 12 benefit – physically and mentally – from eating nutritious, locally grown food and from learning hands-on about where food comes from and how to prepare it.
Many educators at all grade levels want to do more to connect their students to good food and where it comes from but are short on the time and resources to make that happen.
(L-R) Alexa Fernandes and Francey Slater thin carrots in the White River Valley in the garden at the Royalton campus of the White River Valley Elementary School, July 2025.
Introducing our new Farm to School and Early Childhood Resource Hub, a compendium of information that is vetted and sorted especially for Upper Valley educators!
Researched by University of Vermont undergraduate Alexa Fernandes as part of a summer internship, the new hub offers Upper Valley-appropriate fact sheets, videos, and organization and business lists related to these topics:
- Materials, equipment, and garden space
- Recipes and preservation
- Sources for local food
- Compost and beneficial organisms
- Pets and weeds
- Invasives, toxic plants, and plant diseases
- Gardening strategies
- Curricula
- Funding opportunities
- Rationales for implementing farm to school and early childhood programming
A resident of Poughkeepsie, NY, and public health major who is midday through her junior year at UVM, Alexa created the hub as part of a 10-week program that assigned 12 UVM students to support innovative, hands-on projects throughout the White River Valley, hosted by the White River Valley Supervisory Union. The interns served in diverse roles, ranging from agroforestry and school nutrition to public health, journalism, and trail development, and were embedded in host organizations that, along with Vital Communities and the supervisory union, included White River Natural Resources Conservation District, Bethel Public Library, South Royalton Health Center, Bethel Strong, and the White River Valley Herald. The program offered the students free housing, an $18 per hour wage, and free CSA subscriptions.
Alexa divided her working hours between the resource hub and working alongside Francey Slater, Farm to School Coordinator for the White River Valley Elementary School, which has campuses in South Royalton and Bethel. With Francey, she helped build and tend the school gardens and create and run events involving parents, students, and community members.
“I wanted to spend my summer doing something good and my personal instead of just, say, working at an ice cream stand,” said Alexa, who said her love of gardening was ignited by a UVM horticulture class. “I saw this internship on the list and immediately knew it was the one I wanted most. Splitting my time between Vital Communities and the school gardens is a great balance of experiences and skill development.”
“Alexa dove right into this internship with great enthusiasm for learning about Farm to School,” wrote Anna Hubbard, Vital Communities Farm To School Project Manager. “Her hours on the computer researching resources for Upper Valley educators were put into action with her time in school gardens. Without Alexa, we would still be plugging along on compiling resources!”
The resource hub is the latest addition to a slate of Farm to School and Early Childhood support offered by Vital Communities, including:
- Mini-grants for farm to school projects
- Exploring food procurement options for childcare providers
- Emergency funding for food storage and preparation equipment for childcare programs
- On-call technical assistance for schools and childcare providers
Published 8/29/25