(07/24/24) LAFAYETTE, La. — Seeds to Success: The Louisiana Farm to School Program hosted the fifth-annual School Garden Leadership Workshop in Lafayette at the University of Louisiana Ira Nelson Horticulture Center earlier this month.

The workshop takes place each summer and consists of hands-on learning and lectures to help educators learn how to build and sustain a school garden while incorporating farm to school programming into their curriculum.

“We are thrilled to be able to offer this workshop again this summer,” said Tyne Bankester, program manager for the Seeds to Success Program. “The workshop brings together such enthusiastic participants who want to learn and share their experiences with each other.”

Bankester said every year the materials are modified based on the previous year’s evaluations and comments. She said she was eager to see what this year’s participants accomplish with their school gardens.

Thirty participants registered for the workshop, 17 of which completed the attendance and participation requirements. Participating teachers completed 24 hours of educational sessions during the four-day workshop. Topics covered included crop basics, composting and soil fertility management, raised bed construction, irrigation and how to incorporate the garden into school curriculum.

Participants viewed fruit, vegetable and herb crops in an actual garden setting and learned how to install a box garden bed. School garden integration in the classroom was covered for several subjects, including art, reading, science, engineering, history and social studies, math, agriculture, health, physical education and nutrition. In addition, Louisiana Harvest of the Month taste tests were conducted each day to demonstrate how to facilitate a taste test effectively and safely in the classroom.

Each participant that completed the attendance and participation requirement went home with resources from the Seeds to Success team, including a set of Harvest of the Month posters, a seasonality chart, a container garden growing system, a windowsill greenhouse kit, seeds and many other resources exclusively offered to training participants.

Heather Trahan from Jesse Owens Elementary attended this year’s training and said she thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the four-day workshop and took tons of information home to use at school and her own garden at home.

“There is so much knowledge to be shared, and it was nice to have fun while learning,” Trahan said. “The hands-on labs were so neat, and we all took items home with us. It is totally worth it, and I will be attending again in the future.”

If you know someone that would benefit from this opportunity for professional development, please email louisianafarmtoschool@agcenter.lsu.edu.

Participants learned how to build and fill a raised garden bed at the fifth-annual School Garden Leadership Workshop. Photo by Tyne Bankester/LSU AgCenter

Farm to School Advisor Denyse Cummins teaching participants about creating strawberry growing towers at the fifth-annual School Garden Leadership Workshop. Photo by Jacey Wesley/LSU AgCenter