After the 2022 season, our team reviewed the performance of Nourish Your Roots (NYR) against its goals—supporting healthy fundraising for school food and connecting schools with local farmers—and decided not to continue with a one-size-fits-all program. In the fall of 2023, Nourish staff supported more flexible and localized fundraising, by connecting individual schools with interested farm partners in their region.

NYR 2.0 supported partnerships made between schools and farms in the Annapolis Valley, South Shore, Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) and Bear River First Nation. In total, 35 schools and one childcare centre participated in the fundraising program, raising $22,572 for school food initiatives and generating $72,292 of revenue for local farms.

As in previous campaigns, the Bear River First Nation Health Centre partnered with Noggins Corner Farm to purchase $38 Nourish Your Roots boxes as part of their December holiday food box campaign, with proceeds going to the L’Nu Education Centre in Mi’kmaw Kina’Matneway.

In addition to the $38 box, a new $25 box option was piloted in select regions (Annapolis Valley and the South Shore) to create a more affordable fundraising option. With Nourish NS taking a step back from full program oversight, farm partners enjoyed greater autonomy to create boxes that worked for their harvest and seasonal produce availability.

As the NYR 2.0 fundraising program continues to evolve, Nourish NS looks forward to exploring future opportunities to partner with schools and farm partners in additional regions of the province. A new and exciting partnership with Bramble Hill Farm in Greenhill, NS is now underway to provide another local farm-to-school fundraising opportunity for schools. Stay tuned for more information on how to sign-up for Bramble Hill Farm’s Micro Garden fundraiser in the new year!

Nourish Your Roots 2.0 Update