For those of you who don’t know, New Jersey is part of the MId-Atlantic Region when it comes to all things agriculture. Both the USDA Farm to School Program and the National Farm to School Network, consider the region to include NJ, PA, DE, VA, WV, MD and Washington, DC (as well as Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands…and some day we’ll explain that to anyone who is interested!).

On September 19th, New Jersey Farm to School Network invited several of our colleagues from across the state and from the Mid-Atlantic Region to join us on a tour of the White House Kitchen Garden. Twenty-nine people converged on DC early that morning to participate in an afternoon tour with the White House Tour Office and to hear firsthand how the garden is utilized, how it is tended and where the produce is used.

Joining us for the visit were: Kelsey Porter and her colleagues from the Food Trust based in Philadelphia, which serve as the MId-Atlantic Regional lead agency for the National Farm to School Network; National Farm to SchoolNetwork state leads from Delaware, farmer David Marvel and from Washington, DC, Karissa McCarthy from DC Greens and their guests.

New Jersey was represented by the entire NJF2S Board of Directors, Gary Giberson, Meredith Taylor and Sal Valenza and their guests as well as NJF2S Advisory Board Member, Frank Mentesana, Marketing Coordinator, Sheri Kurdakul and Programs Coordinator, Chris Cirkus.

Carly Westling our FoodCorps NJ Fellow serving this year to help us run the FoodCorps Program with Rutgers Cooperative Extension also joined us with former FoodCorps service member alum Carly Chaapel.

All in all it was a very special day for everyone. To learn more about signing up for tours of the White House Garden, click here.