Growing Together: Open Forum

Hello out there!

I work for a rural school that has no access to urban school bond measures and is denied access to State school building grants because we are a charter school (even though we are a public and free school). Fun!

We want to cook from scratch but have limited space. Has anyone had experience with purchasing a food trailer to add cooking space? I'd love to connect with anyone that has experience with this to help me explore or scrap this option.

Thanks!

Lua Siegel

Luckiamute Valley Charter Schools

Facebook #LVCSGardens 

The Charlie Cart Project is an amazing resource for these types of situations.  It's a fully equipped mobile kitchen designed for teaching kids to cook!  My library purchased one with grant monies and it has been an incredible resource.  It may work even better than the food trailer idea as it is portable and can be moved from classroom to classroom.  Scroll down on this page https://charliecart.org/get-started/making-the-case-resources-for-food-education/ to find their info on finding funding.  They are an investment ($15,000 when we bought ours last year) but worth every penny in my opinion.  The Cart comes with a full K-5 Curriculum that aligns with the Common Core State Standards in math, English Language Arts, social studies, and Next Generation Science Standards.  They also provide regular online training and resources.  We've used ours for a variety of programming - from Baby Led Feeding to Mocktails Trivia Night - and will be starting The Taste of African Heritage Cooking Classes for Kids this summer through Oldways.  We use produce from our onsite gardens whenever possible in our cooking classes so it's a great tie in if you garden at your school!