Community

Celebrating Farm-to-School with The Henry Ford at Michelle Obama School: A Local, Organic Lunch for the Next Generation

By • • Community, WCCUSD

Conscious Kitchen, in collaboration with The Alice Waters Institute, proudly welcomed The Henry Ford to Michelle Obama School in the West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) for the culminating event of their Farm to School Lunch Across America campaign. This impactful initiative champions the importance of locally sourced, seasonal, and regeneratively farmed organic school […]

Celebrating Farm-to-School with The Henry Ford at Michelle Obama School: A Local, Organic Lunch for the Next Generation Read More »

Feeding the Future: Organic School Meals Take Root in Sonoma

By • • Community

On a sunny October day in Sonoma County, Conscious Kitchen and The Alice Waters Institute, in partnership with Shared Plate Strategies, hosted a transformative Fresh, Local, Organic Culinary Workshop at the breathtaking Scribe Winery. This regional event brought together food service leaders from across Sonoma and surrounding counties, alongside local organic farmers and purveyors, for

Feeding the Future: Organic School Meals Take Root in Sonoma Read More »

Café Lagunitas: A New Chapter in Organic School Meals

By • • Community

This past August marked an exciting milestone: the launch of The Conscious Kitchen at Lagunitas School District — welcome to Café Lagunitas! As the first school district in West Marin to serve 100% organic, scratch-cooked school meals, this initiative represents years of community vision coming to life. Fueled by growing interest in nourishing students with

Café Lagunitas: A New Chapter in Organic School Meals Read More »

Celebrating a Historic Leap for Better Breakfasts: CEREAL-ously ORGANIC

By • • Community, Equity and Justice, WCCUSD

After 2+ years of collaboration, innovation, and dedication to shifting the paradigm around school food, Conscious Kitchen, Nature’s Path, and West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) made history through a collaborative effort to radically transform a breakfast staple at schools across the nation. On May 2nd, we hosted CEREAL-ously ORGANIC at Michelle Obama Elementary

Celebrating a Historic Leap for Better Breakfasts: CEREAL-ously ORGANIC Read More »

Cultivating Connections: A Sunny Day of Organic Collaboration at Paicines Ranch 

By • • Community

On a beautiful sunny day in May, the picturesque Paicines Ranch once again set the stage for another engaging session for our Fresh, Local, Organic Culinary Workshop series. This 3rd edition of the workshop brought together school food service teams and small local organic farmers for a day of learning, collaboration, and culinary expertise. Hosted

Cultivating Connections: A Sunny Day of Organic Collaboration at Paicines Ranch  Read More »

Downpour of Dedication: A Culinary Workshop Amidst California’s Storms

By • • Community

As the rain poured down across the state of California, our dedication to fostering connections between food service teams and small local organic farmers remained unwavering. Despite the challenging weather conditions, Conscious Kitchen and Alice Waters Institute (AWI) teams embarked on a journey to the magnificent landscape of Paicines Ranch for a winter edition of

Downpour of Dedication: A Culinary Workshop Amidst California’s Storms Read More »

A Meal for Change: Empowering Schools with Organic Choices

By • • Community

“I am a farmer and a mother of three. In my own experience, my three boys would get their breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks from their schools. At that time, the school meals weren’t as nutritious or healthy. There is a huge opportunity to change this and really impact students with fresh, organic, nutritious meals.

A Meal for Change: Empowering Schools with Organic Choices Read More »

Earth Day: Expanding Organics Through Farm to School

By • • Community

Why do we love Earth Day? Because the day calls on us to reflect upon the most wonderful gift we have received—the earth, our home. This year, we celebrated with California’s First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom and many like-minded champions of the state’s Farm to School initiatives, local leaders who are dedicated to transforming school

Earth Day: Expanding Organics Through Farm to School Read More »

Conscious Kitchen’s Alternative Spring Break

By • • Community, Equity and Justice

What better way to spend spring break than conducting on-the-ground research to build food systems that support the health and wellbeing of people and planet? That’s exactly what Conscious Kitchen did with our Organic Farm to School Mapping Project and a passionate cohort of six local college and university students this spring. This cohort came

Conscious Kitchen’s Alternative Spring Break Read More »

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture & CA First Partner Pay Conscious Kitchen a Visit 

By • • Community, Equity and Justice, WCCUSD

We are always proud of our work with Conscious Kitchen! What a joy to share our organic school food program in person with top leaders across our country for National School Breakfast Week. USDA Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Congressman John Garamendi, and State Superintendent Tony Thurmond joined Conscious

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture & CA First Partner Pay Conscious Kitchen a Visit  Read More »

Central Coast Organic School Food Summit

By • • Community, Equity and Justice, WCCUSD

When you want to make change, it can be hard to know where to begin. In the complex world of increasing organic and local procurement for school meals, being able to draw upon inspiration and guidance from leaders, peers, and experts is critical. With this in mind, Conscious Kitchen organized the Central Coast Organic School

Central Coast Organic School Food Summit Read More »

Organic School Meals Work: USDA Visits WCCUSD Summer Meal Site

By • • Community, Covid, WCCUSD

What does our school food program look like in action? The Conscious Kitchen team set up at John Herbert Davis Park in San Pablo with our partner, West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD), to showcase what is possible with fresh, local, organic school-supported agriculture programs like ours. The WCCUSD Food Truck pulled up to

Organic School Meals Work: USDA Visits WCCUSD Summer Meal Site Read More »

FLOSN Farmers in Conscious Kitchens

By • • Community, Equity and Justice, Our Team, Profiles

Rows of organic lettuce and potatoes stretched as far as the eye could see at Pinnacle Farms, our classroom for the day. Our Conscious Kitchen team was busy learning about experimental mulching techniques, water conservation, how hedgerows support native pollinators, and increasing organic soil matter through regenerative farming practices when a van pulled up to

FLOSN Farmers in Conscious Kitchens Read More »

An Organic Farmer Changing Food in Schools

By • • Community, Profiles

As Conscious Kitchen continues to honor, highlight and interview farmers, we chatted with Javier Zamora and learned about his incredible journey to owning a successful organic farm. In 2012, Javier started JSM Organics with little more than an acre and a half of land and a mobile home. Now, 10 years later, he drives through the 200 acres of

An Organic Farmer Changing Food in Schools Read More »

Scroll to Top