Althea Dunn is both the Director and Co-Founder of Pisgah Collective, a year-round, outdoor preschool program based in Brevard, NC. Throughout her time at Brevard College, she began working in various outdoor education and recreation programs in Transylvania County, leading her to open Pisgah Collective with her sister, Julia. Pisgah Collective is a member of ASAP’s Growing Minds’ Farm to School Academy this year, which provides training, peer-to-peer sharing, and resources for early care and education centers to deepen their farm to school programming and local food connections.
What does participating in Appalachian Farms Feeding Families (AFFF) mean to you and your school programs? What does that relationship with the farmers look like?
At Pisgah Collective, we aim to provide a community of kind, independent thinkers to promote exploration and discovery of our relationship with nature. We spend our time with hands in the dirt and the smiles that come from feeling connected with our surroundings. Providing farm to school opportunities to our students and their families deepens the connection we have to the earth—connecting with farm experts inspires our students, teachers, and the entire school community. We look forward to adding more of this to our program offerings and making new connections moving forward. This year we are partnered with Pitch Pine Farm and Puckerup Berry Farm through the AFFF program and are so excited to work with these amazing folks.
How are you implementing Farm to Preschool and what is the receptivity like for families?
We have a class garden and it is a favorite space for many of our students. We love all aspects of tending the garden and as the seasons change the excitement remains. Some of the highlights each school year are when crops are ready to harvest and we get to taste test straight from the garden beds. We also LOVE the opportunity to do cooking projects, thanks to ASAP and Growing Minds’ inspiration and support over the years, such as making pickles, berry mash, and more! Having connections with local farms will make these projects more abundant. Our families absolutely love this part of our programming. For some families, farm to preschool is an extension of their homelife and, for many, has inspired this interest for it to be a part of their life outside of school.
How does being in the Farm to School Academy benefit the kids at Pisgah Collective?
The community connections and support the Farm to School Academy provides are incredible. The influence that programming has on the kids will impact them for the rest of their lives. You can truly see their love of nature grow as they watch the seeds they sowed sprout and eventually become a delicious snack to share with their families and friends. Children gain confidence and awareness with farm to school activities that encourage their curiosity and for them to have a deeper love of learning overall.
Do you have any stories or memories of kids eating that local food?
One year, a local farmer offered to grow heirloom popcorn at our school garden and the students got to experience the corn’s lifecycle: watching its growth, helping dry the ears, processing and shelling the cobs, and then cooking and eating the popcorn. This process took many months and patience and the pay off was certainly worth it. Every year we have students that say things like, “I don’t like salad, but I love this lettuce” after experiencing growing their own food at school and then getting to taste it. The connection children make with their surroundings and their own bodies when they get to learn about where their food comes from makes a lasting impact.