TOOLKIT TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Getting Started
- Sourcing Local Food
- Local Food Distributors and Food Hubs
- Gardening On-Site
- Farm to Summer
- New! At Home and In Community Toolkit
- Food & Agriculture Education
- Early Care Providers
- For Farmers & Producers
- Funding
- Advocate for F2S
- Outreach Toolkit
- Boot Camps and Trainings
- Illinois Stories- Listen to our podcast series!
Gardening in Schools, Boarding Sites & Early Care Sites
Get Started with an On-Site Garden
Looking to start a new garden project? You’re in the right place for resources and tips on how to build a sustainable, educational, and empowering place for students. Check out the links below!
Getting Started: A Guide for Creating School Gardens as Outdoor Classrooms, Life Lab
This comprehensive guide reviews how to built schoolwide support, select a site, and sustain the garden over time.
School Garden Wizard, The National Botanic Garden
A website to help you make the case for a school garden, plan for success, create your project, learn in the garden, and keep it growing!
A Taste of Gardening, University of Illinois Extension
Step by step basics on how to keep a garden flourishing.
My First Garden, University of IL Extension
This learning module is geared for 4th grade learners to help them explore the fundamental knowledge needed to grow a garden, then plan and execute their own project!
Garden-Based Lesson Plans
These resources are full of lesson plans for connecting what you’re growing to educational curriculum:
Fresh from the Farm, Seven Generations Ahead
Fresh from the Farm curricula are designed to engage children grades 1-8 in gardening, plant science, food system education, and overall wellness.
Life Lab
Life Lab cultivates children’s love of learning, healthy food, and nature through garden-based education.Curriculum for all grades is available on the website.
U of I Extension
University of Illinois Extension in Champaign has a variety of lesson plans from bulbs to pollinators to composting.
Growing Minds
Growing minds has many lesson plans geared at engaging early childhood.
Kids Gardening
Whether you want to study nutrition, soil, plants, pollinators, or garden creativity, there’s a lesson plan here for you.
Dig Deeper, Big Green
Big Green has garden curriculum for children in K-8, and for high school aged teens in one, easily accessible spot: Bite-sized lessons and activity bundles for educators. These lesson bundles provide activities and lessons on garden and food related subjects.
What to Do: A School Garden Calendar
This school garden organizer contains month by month calendars and tips with growing lessons from the New York Botanical Garden.
NGreenhouse Manual: A Guide for Educators
This manual is designed as an introduction for educators who are beginning to explore ways to incorporate a greenhouse as a hands-on learning environment for students of all ages. It offers information and resources both for teachers interested in establishing a new project, as well as for those who already have access to an existing greenhouse or hoop house.
Local Gardening Resources
Check out these resources for getting in touch with garden experts in your area, navigating the logistics of growing a garden, or connecting to much-needed people power:
Master Gardeners, U of I Extension
Partners at University of Illinois Extension offices are a boon for any farm to school, or garden program! The Master Gardeners program has supported many school gardens in Illinois and provide opportunities for support in all of Illinois’ 102 counties. You can find a complete county contact list for the Master Gardener programs here.
Advocates for Urban Agriculture (AUA)
For Chicago sites, AUA has resources for operating gardens within city codes and using compost. They also lead volunteer field days to help sites maintain or build their gardens.
IL Harvest of the Month Taste Test Toolkit
Illinois Farm to School Network has created a Taste Test Toolkit for Illinois based feeding and garden sites. The Taste Test Toolkit is a part of the Illinois Harvest of the Month program, a free program encouraging child feeding and garden sites to feature and and explore a monthly garden, or local food item.
Garden to Cafeteria Toolkit, Whole Kids Foundation
Slow Food USA, in partnership with Whole Kids Foundation, has developed a toolkit to help school district food services safely bring school garden produce onto the lunch line!
Garden Skills, Big Green
If you want to support a garden program but need to brush up on your gardening skills, check out this resource page.
Gardeneers, Chicago
Gardeneers works with Chicago’s South- and Westside schools and communities to contribute positively to the larger food system. We do this by supporting youth in our school garden and farm programs to build their own knowledge, skills, and habits to become leaders who care for themselves, their environment, and their communities.
SGSO (School Garden Support Organization)
The SGSO Network is an open peer-to-peer learning network with the goal of growing, sustaining and elevating a movement of equitable garden-based education. This is a free service!
Summer in the School Garden
This is a resource designed to help school garden coordinators effectively maintain their school gardens during the summer.
Food Safety
Check out these resources on ensuring your garden produce aligns with food safety standards:
IL Garden Produce Public Act
IL Public Act 100-0505 passed in June 2018 which allows schools to serve fresh garden produce grown by students with safety protocols in place. You can read it by clicked on the link above.
NFSN Garden to Cafeteria (GTC) Safety Toolkit
Best Practices for Food Safety in the School Garden provides a short list of points of concern for garden food safety practices and links to best practices.
WSDA Farm to School
Best Practices for Food Safety in the School Garden provides a short list of points of concern for garden food safety practices and links to best practices.
Iowa State University Extension
Make Food Safety a Priority in Your Garden contains a 5-page toolkit with steps to ensure garden foods are safe to consume.The kit includes Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Handling Practices (GHP).
USDA Food and Nutrition Service
Food Safety Tips for School Gardens is a 6-page guide with tips which lead to written practices for safe garden food management. This tool kit includes safety practices from choosing the garden site, to chemical usage, planting and harvest.
Illinois Garden Case Studies
Beautiful gardens are growing across the state! Check out the case studies below to get inspired. Do you have a garden story to share? Contact to be featured below!
Students at Westmont High School in DuPage County, Illinois are growing food indoors and out!
Westmont High School Indoor Garden Program
Lisa Hootman, science teacher, manages the Westmont High School garden program Earth to School. Westmont has expanded their garden from 8 raised outdoor beds to 16. They added indoor hydroponics incorporating high school curriculum from biology, chemistry, environmental science, math, and business. In the fall, the school donates part of their harvest to the People’s Resource Center in Westmont. They also hold an autumn Farmer’s Market in conjunction with school athletic activities. The garden is truly year-round and also feeds the students in the form of classroom tastings, and on the lunch line! Lisa worked with a company called Root 66, based in Brookfield, to install the hydroponic garden. Westmont High School is doing great work teaching students how to grow and eat more veggies!