The Klamath-Trinity Resource Conservation District (KTRCD) invests CDFA Farm to School Incubator Grant funding to support local producers, local food procurement and hands-on education to help connect the classroom, cafeteria, local food system and community.
KTRCD is an Indigenous nonprofit working to connect local food, schools, producers and culturally relevant food education throughout the Klamath-Trinity region of Humboldt, Del Norte and Trinity counties in Northern California. An important part of this work is the KTRCD Food Hub, which purchases food from local farmers and producers and helps connect locally produced foods back to schools and the community. The KRTCD Food Hub recently purchased food from 26 local producers and provided food safety education.
KTRCD’s Farm to School work also creates opportunities for Hoopa Valley students to learn about traditional foods and food practices through direct experience and community mentorship. In partnership with schools, Tribal programs, local organizations, producers and community knowledge holders, students participate in hands-on activities involving salmon, Pacific lamprey, deer, acorns, locally gathered plants, gardening, food preparation, preservation and other traditional foods.
“Our workshops offer an opportunity for students to engage with school and culture simultaneously,” said Hoopa Valley High School Cultural Connections, Cultural Studies and Natural Resources teacher Natalie M. Scott. “And it turn, that improves our attendance and behavior outcomes. Students that sometimes struggle to engage with school are given another avenue of engagement.”
Recently, KTRCD was a partner in the annual Salmon Project where more than 30 Hoopa Valley High School students learned about salmon species, fisheries management, selection harvest, traditional processing, smoking, kippering and preservation. Students visited the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s weir at Tish Tang and worked directly with harvested salmon, learning how to gut, filet, strip, hang, smoke and preserve the fish alongside community instructors and partners.
“It’s a learning experience for all of us and it’s meaningful that we’re coming together to practice our culture,” Hoopa Valley High School student Marion “Buckeroo” McCovey said about the Salmon Project experience. “The more we are together, the more we build.”
October is National Farm to School Month! Join us and thousands of schools, early care and education sites, farms, communities and organizations across the country as we celebrate food education, school gardens and lunch trays filled with healthy, local ingredients.
Click here to view this original CDFA Planting Seeds blog post.