Apple Crunch
Enjoy a delicious apple and make some noise this October as a part of INDIANA APPLE CRUNCH. Celebrate local farmers and local food by crunching into our apples at the same time to create a crunch heard around the state!
What is the Great Apple Crunch?
Every October, Hoosiers of all ages come together to celebrate the importance and fresh flavor of local agriculture and create “The Crunch Heard Around the State”! On any October date of choice, school groups, community groups, and businesses crunch into a locally-produced apple at the same time while learning about everything from healthy eating to local food production to careers in agriculture. Other states across the Midwest are also hosting their own Apple Crunch, so you are adding to a regional effort to make an even louder impact on local foods!
What’s the history of the Apple Crunch?
Purdue Extension has partnered with other Extension offices in the Great Lakes Region since 2015 to promote the Great Lakes Apple Crunch (aka The Crunch). The Crunch was run by our friends in Wisconsin until 2022. Starting this year, The Crunch is now run independently in each state with non-financial support from the USDA. Our friends at the Indiana Department of Education (DOE) included The Crunch in their State Formula Grant to help offset some of the costs previously paid for by Wisconsin, such as for stickers, a website, and staffing. So now, the Indiana Great Apple Crunch is a partnership between Purdue Extension and the DOE.
What is the goal of the Apple Crunch?
The goal of The Crunch is to support farm-to-school procurement initiatives, local farmers, healthy kids, and resilient local food systems. Success is measured by the number of Crunchers each year! In 2022, through our partnership with DOE, we increased our number of Crunchers by 226%, with nearly 125,000 Hoosiers crunching an apple in October. This year, we want to reach 200,000 Hoosier Crunchers! Because one of our goals is to support local farmers, we also push for Crunchers to procure their apples from local producers, and we discourage folks from asking those producers to donate their products
What can I do to participate?
Your Apple Crunch Event can be whatever you want it to be! Again, we are measuring success as the number of Hoosiers who crunch into an apple, preferably one that is locally sourced, and preferably all at the same time so everyone can hear the loud CRUNCH of the apples. We encourage K-12 schools to think of how they can incorporate The Crunch into their school days through hands-on learning. Extension has created learning activities (coming soon!) tied to State Standards and two videos to be shared with young Crunchers about Careers in Apple Production and Growing Apples in Indiana.
How do I recruit Crunchers?
Host an event for youth: Consider hosting an Apple Crunch event with a school, community organization, 4-H club, etc. The event can be whatever you want it to be as long as it includes a big ‘ole crunch of some apples! The Crunchy sky is the limit! Just do something fun that the kids can’t wait to do again next year. Think about the themes of healthy living, healthy planet, agriculture, and even entomology!
Host an event for adults: Crunching isn’t just for kids! Kids aren’t typically the ones making decisions about where food is purchased, right? So engaging adults in the idea of local food sourcing is a crunchtastic idea! Host a fun Apple Crunch team builder for your office (for example, an Apple Pie Baking Contest), and maybe include your board or volunteer groups.
What support will I receive?
After you register, you will receive a Crunch guide with some helpful information. We will mail stickers (think: “I Voted” stickers) with the Indiana Great Apple Crunch logo to all Crunch sites with enough stickers for every Cruncher, while supplies last. Questions? contact Laura at ljdodds@purdue.edu
How do I get started?
Remember that your Apple Crunch can be literally whatever you want it to be. Just do something fun with apples, and if you can, find a way to teach someone something in the process! Once you’ve decided what you’d like to do, sign up here.