Celeste Finney and Crystal Besse

If the phrase, “Hi friends, I’m Crystal Besse!” sounds familiar to you, then you have probably seen one of many Louisiana Harvest of the Month videos currently produced by Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB) and Seeds to Success: The Louisiana Farm to School Program. In 2015, Harvest of the Month began as a pilot project in three Louisiana schools. The purpose of the initiative was to introduce local produce to students by incorporating Louisiana-grown fruits and vegetables into the school menus on a monthly basis.

Harvest of the Month tastings in the cafeterias were supported with educational materials and “I tried it!” stickers. From this pilot project, a robust educational and Louisiana Harvest of the Month marketing campaign has grown. Twenty Louisiana-grown items ranging from blueberries to shrimp have all been featured, each boasting a portfolio that includes a Harvest of the Month poster, recipes, lesson plans and sustainable planting guides.

Any educator, parent or school child nutrition professional can sign up for the Louisiana Harvest of the Month program by visiting the Louisiana Farm to School Program website, seedstosuccess.com. Participants of the Harvest of the Month program receive access to the online suite of resources and a supply kit with a Harvest of the Month guide, posters, “I tried it!” stickers, a seasonality chart and other educational materials.

The Harvest of the Month program is completely customizable to suit a classroom’s needs and can be scaled up for widespread use at a district level. Teachers or child nutrition professionals can choose a Harvest of the Month item to feature and use supporting materials provided through either the supply kit they receive or by accessing the website. The Harvest of the Month Getting Started Guide walks new participants through the process of how to create an educational movement centered around seasonal and local foods. Participants will find that seedstosuccess.com provides an organized system of resources catalogued by each Harvest of the Month. For each Harvest of the Month crop, participants will find comprehensive gardening guides, activity and coloring sheets, social media images, menu templates, recipes and cooking tutorial videos. The Seeds to Know section of the website allows teachers to scroll lesson plans organized by grade level and crop that have all been vetted by Louisiana teachers and matched to Louisiana state curriculum standards.

While the Harvest of the Month collection contains many resources, by far one of the popular components is the Harvest of the Month video series. To date, the Seeds to Success team has created 14 Harvest of the Month videos through a collaboration with LPB. Each Harvest of the Month video takes viewers to a Louisiana farm to meet a producer, shows how the item is grown and harvested and brings everyone into the kitchen to watch a recipe demonstration by Judy Myhand, LSU senior nutrition instructor. The segments are typically about 10 minutes long, making them a perfect classroom resource. The Seeds to Success team and LPB plan to continue their partnership by creating more videos as the Harvest of the Month campaign continues to expand. Videos are released at the beginning of each month on the Louisiana Farm to School Program and Louisiana Public Broadcasting Facebook pages.

Celeste Finney is the manager of school nutrition and procurement for Seeds to Success: The Farm to School Program, and Crystal Besse is the program director.

(This article appears in the spring 2023 edition of Louisiana Agriculture.)

Two students try sweet potatoes as part of Harvest of the Month tastings in Lafayette Parish. Photo by Allison Richard

LSU nutrition instructor Judy Myhand speaks with a citrus producer about Meyer lemons during a Harvest of the Month video on citrus. Photo provided by Louisiana Public Broadcasting

Allison Guidroz of Fullness Farms and Crystal Besse of the Louisiana Farm to School program demonstrate how to successfully grow and harvest different varieties of beet greens in a Harvest of the Month video. Photo courtesy of Louisiana Public Broadcasting