Center for Regional Food Systems Michigan Farm to School

On September 30, 2025, the Ferndale Director of Dining Service, Paige Fleming, brought students and community together via a pop-up farmers market at Ferndale Upper Elementary. Inspired by events at two other Chartwell’s school districts the year prior, Ms. Fleming knew a farmers market would be a great addition for her fall dining calendar. On the day of the market, sunny and bright, farmers set up on the school campus and students were able to shop with veggie bucks. They went home “loaded with local produce.” Ms. Fleming recruited community partners to provide educational opportunities for students while they shopped. While students participated in an apple tasting and cooking demo, Sara Covatta gave students a lesson on composting, the beekeeper from Shramm's Mead featured a beehive, and Jessica Lofton-Williams of Double Up Food Bucks, ran a planting station.  

Principal Katie Jeffrey, in her tenth year at Ferndale Upper Elementary, shared, "I am so ridiculously grateful for the Farmer's Market event… this was by far my favorite event we have ever put on! I hope all our families enjoyed their fresh produce and that the students were filled with details about their shopping choices, apple preferences, beehive knowledge, composting fun facts, and so much more!" 

Read on about this special event in The Farmers Market, reported by Abigail, a student from Mr. Takach's 5th grade class at Ferndale Upper Elementary School!  

The Farmers Market  

By Abigail, a 5th grade student reporter in Mr. Takach's 5th grade class at Ferndale Upper Elementary 

The farmers market was fun and educational. They taught us so much about nature and food. We got to get food for our family and there were so many options of produce. It was for us to learn about produce and the whole school got to do it. It was a fun source of time. The farmers market was important because when we get to learn and have fun at school it surely makes my day! I hope other schools have a farmers market because it’s so much fun and you learn too. I hope other schools have this event. The farmers market was really interesting and fun. I learned about compost and how food  decomposes. I'd love more events like this and all the volunteers were so nice and patient with us. There was so much to learn that I didn't get to. I think all schools should have this event because it's important to learn about produce. There are only a few things I would improve. First I want them to teach us how to tell whether things are ripe or not. Not everyone learns how to tell whether things are ripe or not. It's an important skill to learn. I also would have wanted them to teach us about the nutritional values the foods have. I'd also love it if they gave us more time to learn because we didn't have a whole lot of time. I think that if these suggestions were taken into consideration the farmers market would be perfect. Overall it was really fun and educational. I hope Ferndale Upper Elementary has another farmers market. 

October is National Farm to School Month! Explore free resources and activities from the National Farm to School Network here.   

Interested in getting featured in this series? Contact Julie Lehman, lehmanju@msu.edu, to share your farm to school story!