Harvest Lessons

UVFTS Community-curriculum (17)Teach students about healthy eating, local food, and natural history with standards-based, hands-on lessons around seasonal foods for grades K-4. Lessons can be used by teachers, or  volunteers (parents, community members, teachers, and high school students). The program has been very successful in Barnard, Pomfret, Hartland, Windsor, Fairlee and West Fairlee, receiving praise from teachers and the volunteers, and inspiring excitement and learning in students.

For more information on trainings, lessons, and programs contact our staff at uvfts@VitalCommunities.org.

Harvest Lessons Program Manual

Harvest Lessons Program Manual

Lessons To Use Again and Again

Lessons To Use Again and Again

Apples

Apples

Dry Beans

Dry Beans

Beets & Rutabagas

Beets & Rutabaga

Berries

Berries

Broccoli & Cauliflower

Broccoli & Cauliflower

Herbs

Herbs

Kale

Kale

Mixed Greens

Mixed Greens

Winter Squash

Winter Squash

Tomatoes

Tomatoes

Cabbage

Cabbage

Parsnips

Parsnips

Eggs

Exploring Eggs Lesson Plan
Egg Diagrams
MyPlate Coloring Sheet
Eggs Measurement Worksheet
Eggs Background Information
Eggs Take-Home (Recipes)

Zucchini Challenge

Zucchini Challenge Lesson Plan
Cards for Game
Zucchini Challenge Take Home
Plant Journal Materials
Plant Growth Chart
Tomato Planet Activity
Soil Recipe Activity

Whole Grains

Whole Grains Lesson Plan
Match the Grains Activity Sheet
Diagram of a Wheat Kernel
Whole Grains Take-Home (Recipes)

What Local foods Can We Eat in March?

Eating Locally in March Lesson Plan
Magic Pink Dip Recipe Full Page
Magic Pink Bean Dip Recipe Half Page
Eat Locally Coloring Sheet
Background Information on Local versus Industrial Food

Seedy Mystery Snack

Seedy Mystery Snack Lesson Plan
Little Sprout Activity
Seedy Mystery Snack Recipe
Seedy Mystery Snack Recipe Half Page
Photo Clues for Mystery Snack

Harvest of the Month

Learn More

harvest of the monthThis is month is Parsnips, here is some info for you and recipes, etc.

Search Our Valley Food & Farm Guide

What's Happening

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Greatest Hits

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Lorem Ipsum

Staff

Becka Warren

Food & Farm Coordinator

Food & Farm

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Food & Farm

— Becka Warren, Food & Farm Coordinator

Part of Vital Communities' Food & Farm team since 2012, Becka fosters relationships that keep agriculture a daily part of community life in the Upper Valley. She works with current and future farmers, businesses, schools, and partners across Vermont and New Hampshire to build connections that support farm viability and keep our landscapes working. Becka lived in Seattle for many years, where she worked for the Washington State University Small Farms Program, Cascade Harvest Coalition, Seattle Tilth, and area vegetable farms. Becka is also a writer, founding and writing Ask Umbra at gristmagazine.com until 2009. She holds a BA from Brown University and lives in Hartland, Vermont, with her family.



Beth Roy

Food & Farm Manager

Valley Quest, Food & Farm

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Valley Quest, Food & Farm

— Beth Roy, Food & Farm Manager

Beth leads Vital Communities' Food & Farm team, including its Upper Valley Farm to School programming, and also oversees Valley Quest. Before joining Vital Communities, Beth Roy worked in the environmental and place-based education fields for 17 years in various positions around New England including at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science and as the Director of Education at the Nature Museum in Grafton, Vt. Beth is also on the boards of the Vermont Science Teacher Association (VSTA) and the Vermont State-Wide Environmental Education Programs (SWEEP), a coalition of dozens of individuals and organizations promoting sustainability and environmental education in Vermont. Beth is a New Hampshire native and lives in Hartland, Vt., with her husband and two children. When Beth is not working you will find her exploring the woods around her home with her family or cooking up a new taste test (made of local foods, of course!) for her children.



Doreen Guillette

Assistant to the Executive Director, Flavors Coordinator

Food & Farm

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Food & Farm

— Doreen Guillette, Assistant to the Executive Director, Flavors Coordinator

Doreen Guillette joined Vital Communities in January 2020 as the Flavors of the Valley Coordinator and Assistant to the Executive Director, with many years of administrative and management experience at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, self-employment, and volunteering. An Upper Valley native, Doreen spends most of her time and energy caring for her mini-farm and a large family in Norwich. She is a strong advocate for local community and is president of the Beaver Meadow Chapel, Trustee of the Beaver Meadow Schoolhouse, and Co-Chair of the West Norwich Community Resilience Organization. Doreen enjoys hiking, kayaking, writing poetry, nature photography, and cooking meals that come from her own land.



Nancy LaRowe

Food & Farm and Local First Coordinator

Local First, Food & Farm

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Local First, Food & Farm

— Nancy LaRowe, Food & Farm and Local First Coordinator

Nancy joined Vital Communities as the Food & Farm Coordinator in 2014. She works to support and grow our local food system and economy. Nancy has lived, worked, and farmed in the Upper Valley for more than 25 years and believes our community is healthier and stronger when our connections to food and the farms that produce it stay vital.

Nancy's informal job title is Farmer-in-Residence: she also runs a pasture-based cattle farm in Norwich. Nancy is on the Board of the Norwich Farmers' Market and a retired Norwich volunteer firefighter and EMT. She loves puttering in the garden, hiking with her dog, and visiting farmers' markets.