SIERRA HARVEST
313 Railroad Ave Ste 201, Nevada City, CA 95959 www.sierraharvest.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: Founded in 2008, Sierra Harvest is building a community that values and eats an abundance of fresh, local, seasonal food; training successful local farmers that are increasing sustainable food production; and creating equitable access to fresh, local, seasonal food. We serve dozens of farmers, hundreds of families and thousands of children. Be the local food movement and join us in the conversation at www.sierraharvest.org.

Sierra Harvest transforms lives and strengthens community through fresh, local, seasonal food. We provide farm to school, school garden, school food, farmer training, backyard gardening, gleaning, and food policy programs that educate, inspire and connect families to fresh, local, seasonal food.

FARM TO SCHOOL: Sierra Harvest's Farm to School Program is currently in thirty-three Nevada County schools and reaches over 9,500 students including 96% of the K-8 students in Western Nevada County. Sierra Harvest connects each school with a local farm partner. This farmer hosts farm field trips at their farms, provides produce for a weekly produce stand at the school, and comes into the classroom to share farming stories and activities with the kids. Sierra Harvest also conducts monthly "Harvest of the Month" tastings of local, seasonal fruits and vegetables delivered to classrooms along with educator curriculum and a family newsletter. Sierra Harvest's "Tasting Days" brings guest chefs from around the county into hundreds of classrooms to cook simple, seasonal meals for 3,000 students. Pre and post-test survey data indicate that the students who participate in Sierra Harvest Farm to School programming try new fruits and veggies for the first time through Harvest of the Month, eat more of a fruit or veggie after trying it at school, and report that they shop directly from farmers more often. TRANSFORMING_SCHOOL_FOOD_THROUGH_FARM_TO_SCHOOL: The Foothills Fresh meal program, which provides scratch cooked school meals to the Nevada City School district, proves that schools can serve fresh foods that kids will eat while earning revenue for their program. The program doubled participation over a two-year period, reduced food waste, dissipated the stigma about school lunch being for "poor kids" and increased revenue. Our work to improve school meals garnered a 2019 innovation award for the state of CA. The success of this pilot program ignited all nine school districts in Western Nevada County to sign a contract with Sierra Harvest and the Chef Ann Foundation to assess and implement a scratch cooked school meal program that could serve all 10,000 students. SCHOOL_GARDEN_EDUCATION_THROUGH_FARM_TO_SCHOOL: Sierra Harvest provided 2 hours per week of garden education at 9 schools during the 19-20 school year. Through this program, 1,316 children participated in 10,658 hours of nutrition education, igniting their passions about where food comes from and setting the stage to expand the school garden program in the future. Sierra Harvest is engaging community partners and school districts to invest financially in each school garden to ensure that there isn't just one single source of funding or one incredible volunteer that allows the entire program to operate. This approach ensures future program sustainability and provides a sought after outdoor learning lab available to teachers in the age of hybrid educational models.

FARM INSTITUTE: The Farm Institute works alongside farmers and ranchers to support successful local farmers that are increasing sustainable food production in Nevada County. Farm Institute programs are designed to build the prosperity of ecologically sustainable producers, to increase the land in organic production, and to train more beginning farmers as the older generation of producers retires. The Sierra Harvest Agricultural skills classes train beginning farmers in regenerative agriculture production. Farm Biz, a six-week business skill-building course, brings small business professionals and educators to local farmers and ranchers. Sierra Harvest's Land Match program works to connect sustainable farmers and ranchers with locally available agricultural land. On-farm advising allows select Farm Biz graduates to enjoy consulting services by an experienced local farmer who assists them with customized business plans and strategies to improve their profitability. Sierra Harvest also offers an organic farming certification course. 20% of the organic farms in Nevada County became certified with our support. To date Sierra Harvest has trained 113 sustainable farmers, helped 6 farms certify organic, matched 17 farmers to low cost farm land and provided 2,330 hours of education to local farmers .

FARMER EVENTS: Sierra Harvest hosts community events promoting local food and farms that are attended by over 1,300 people each year. Farm potlucks feature different farms throughout the growing season, and Soup Night, which was cancelled due to COVID, typically features farm fresh soups and bread for family and community. Sierra Harvest's Sustainable Food and Farm conference is an annual regional conference designed to educate and connect the local and regional sustainable farming community. The Sustainable Food & Farm Conference serves 700 people, including 81 farmers who received scholarships to attend, and offers farm tours, hands-on workshops, and presentations from internationally recognized speakers, with breakout sessions for participants to ask questions and get advice. 85% of attendees reported that they were inspired to implement new sustainable techniques and strategies in their farm or garden.

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