Shaker Middle School was busy last week, as the school served as the pre-conference site for the 2026 New York State Farm to School Summit. The annual event took place in Saratoga Springs this year, allowing North Colonie CSD to offer a pre-conference session to review the farm to school efforts throughout the district. The session offered a tour of the snowy gardens at SMS, the outdoor classroom, and the Fork Farm hydroponic garden in the cafeteria. Participants were then treated to a presentation from the North Colonie CSD Farm to School team, which consists of:
Lisa Ostrowski, Director of Nutrition Services
Alex Clements, Assistant Director of Nutrition Services
Amber Cost, Farm to School Facilitator
John Barker, Owner and Director of Agriculture at Forts Ferry Farm
Kay Jones, Kitchen Manager at Forts Ferry Elementary
Amy Parks, Innovation Lab Teacher at Forts Ferry
Chris Turcio, Principal at Blue Creek Elementary
Cody Kilcoyne & Alicia McLaughlin, Owners of Kilcoyne Farms
Heather Lyon-Vinehout, Hillard’s Greenhouse
The team offered insights on how they began to collaborate with the Forts Ferry Farm, Kilcoyne Farms, and Hillard’s Greenhouse. While the day focused on collaboration and success, the team also emphasized the time and efforts taken to reach their current level of success, sharing that this has been many years in the making. Following this, the team discussed the steps taken to add more New York items to the food menu, introducing farm to school lessons to the classroom, and more. Towards the end of the session, participants were introduced to the Charlie Cart, a mobile kitchen. The group was invited to try ginger ale, made from locally sourced products and the Charlie Cart. Thank you to our visitors and the Farm to School team for helping to make the day a success!