Celebrate WI Local Food Day
Join us in honoring Wisconsin agriculture by participating in the inaugural Wisconsin Local Food Day! While the official celebration takes place on Thursday, November 13, participants are encouraged to take part anytime throughout November.
This year’s featured food is Wisconsin’s state fruit – the cranberry! It's the perfect time to highlight the richness of our local harvest by:
- Showcasing cranberry-infused dishes in school meals;
- Incorporating fun and informative lessons about Wisconsin’s cranberry-growing industry; or
- Teaching about the many health benefits of the local cranberry.
There’s so much to celebrate about this nutritious red fruit and the hardworking farmers who grow it. Let’s support local, eat local, and learn local—all while enjoying the tangy taste of cranberries!
Register your event to receive FREE cranberry scratch and sniff stickers and to be entered into a raffle to win a copy of Time for Cranberries by Lisl Detlefsen!
Student Activities
Cranberry Learning Lessons (Toothpick Structures, Raft Engineering, Do Cranberries Bounce, Do Cranberries Sink or Float, The Dirt on Cranberry Soil [Edible Dirt Cup], Development of a Cranberry)
Food + Farm Exploration Center Ag Readers and Lessons
Wisconsin Cranberries Activity Book
Middle School-High School
Cranberry Learning Lessons (Cran-Career JigSaw Exploration, Symbiotic Relationships in Cranberries, Cranberry DNA Extraction Lab, Discover Cranberry Harvest Evolution)
Food + Farm Exploration Center Ag Readers and Lessons – MS/HS Ag Reader and Lessons
Videos
Wisconsin Cranberries | History (4:07 min)
Wisconsin Cranberries | Growing Today (4:48 min)
Wisconsin Cranberries | A Growing Future (5:29 min)
Wisconsin Cranberries | Sustainable Growing (1:33 min)
CLI- Cranberry Harvest (10:33 min)
Recipes
Spiced Apple Parfait (featuring dried cranberries)
Cranberry Brown Rice Pilaf (Holmen School District)
US Cranberries Food Service Recipes
American Indian Traditional Foods Toolkit Recipes – Maple Squash Bake (pg. 60), Wild Rice and Oatmeal Bake (pg. 63), Yogurt Parfait with Butternut Squash, Dried Cranberries, and Granola (pg. 65)
Rise and Shine: A School Breakfast Recipe Collection – Spiced Apple Cup (pg. 4), Breakfast Energy Bites (pg. 5), Homemade Granola (pg. 9) (Coming Soon!)
Local Sourcing Information
Don’t forget dried cranberries can be sourced locally, too!
Wisconsin State Cranberry Association - Sourcing Cranberries
Wisconsin Local Food Database: Find Farmers - find a list of local food producers that sell to schools by location.
REAP Farm Fresh Atlas - database to find local products, farmers' markets, CSAs and more.
Wisconsin Farmers Market Association– locate farmers markets near you.
Something Special from Wisconsin Directory
Known Food Hubs, Co-ops and Aggregators that Sell to Wisconsin Schools
Procurement
Cranberries can be purchased for use in the School Breakfast Program and/or National School Lunch Program using your school’s non-profit school food service account (Fund 50 in public schools).
In most cases, micro-purchase (informal) procurement applies to cranberry purchases for this event. Micro-purchases can be awarded without soliciting competitive price quotes, as long as, the price is reasonable and items can be purchased from the prime vendor contract (in most cases).
To learn more about the funds schools have available to purchase local foods and procurement requirements for buying local: Continuing the Momentum for Local Food in School Meals.
For Cranberry Growers
To participate as a cranberry grower in WI Local Food Day, growers can request to be added to the Wisconsin Local Foods Database free of charge. Schools use the Database to source local products for their school meal programs. For events such as the WI Local Food Day, growers who offer the featured local product (i.e., cranberries) receive special promotion in the Database with the WI Local Food Day logo next to their business name.
Growers can offer to visit a school to educate students/classes about growing cranberries or invite students to their farm for a field trip! Students love the chance to hear directly from the grower. These Classroom Visit Postcards can be provided to students as a tangible reminder of what they learned and are a great way to extend the learning beyond the classroom.
Promotion
Wisconsin schools may request free, F2S promotional items! Items include menu signage, Producer Highlight posters, window clings, magnets, and stickers. Submit requests using the Promotional Items Order Form.
Share photos and videos of your WI Local Food Day celebration in the following ways:
- Advertise your event on social media, using the following hashtags: #WILocalFoodDay, #wisconsincranberries, #FarmtoSchool, #WIF2S. Tag @WisconsinDepartmentofPublicInstruction, @WisconsinCranberries
- Send photos and videos of your WI Local Food Day to DPIF2S@dpi.wi.gov
Thank you to the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association for their help to compile this list of resources!