(03/17/25) MONTEREY, La. — “Eat your vegetables” is a refrain that children have heard, and often bristled at, for as long as there have been both children and vegetables. But a few innovative LSU AgCenter agents have developed a formula that eases youth into making healthier choices while also shining a spotlight on how their food is sourced.

So, on a beautiful spring day at Lynn White’s farm in Monterey near the Mississippi River, 4-H youth gathered to create and taste recipes using seasonal ingredients. Participants prepared strawberry salsa and crawfish dip while others tasted the dishes and ranked them using stickers to indicate whether they loved, liked or simply tried the dishes. In both cases, “loved” was the clear winner.

Concordia Parish agent Paige Pirkey began the Growing Minds SPIN (special interest) Club in September of last year to provide students in her community activities on Mondays after her parish shifted to a four-day school week. She initially conceived the idea as one or two programs until her colleague, AgCenter agent Cecilia Stevens, volunteered to help expand it.

“We’ve now done eight programs so far,” Pirkey said. “Every activity has a science portion and a food demonstration portion, and it’s all hands-on.”

Pirkey said that once they decided that the program should be monthly, she applied for and received a Louisiana Association of 4-H Youth Development Professionals (LAE4-HYDP) Excellence in Teamwork Award, which provides funding to support program or project ideas proposed by a team that demonstrates effective performance and significant results at community, area, state or multi-state levels.

Stevens volunteered to help with the program because she liked the idea of the youth being part of the teaching process in addition to learning.

“The kids help to implement the program, learn about food safety and share it with their peers,” Stevens said. “We started by teaching them things like knife skills and how to chop an onion and, by the December meeting, they were doing it themselves. You may have noticed that during today’s demonstrations the agents were completely silent while the kids presented.”

In addition to preparing dishes, older 4-H participants were on hand to talk about the livestock they raised, from rabbits to hogs to goats to 4-H and FFA member Woodrow Wade’s grand prize-winning Brangus heifer. He demonstrated to some of the younger attendees how he hosed the heifer down on warm days to keep her cool, telling them, “They get hot just like us, but they don’t have air conditioners.”

Wade said he enjoyed participating in the Growing Minds program because he was turning 17 and wanted to encourage younger kids about the art and skill behind raising cattle.

“I want the future youth to learn because there aren’t as many kids as interested in farming and livestock as there used to be,” he said. “They should know that what they eat doesn’t start out in the supermarket. That food came from somewhere.”

Tyne Bankester, manager of Seeds to Success: The Louisiana Farm to School Program, noted the age ranges of the participants and how they were learning what specific types of foods were grown seasonally in the different regions of the state.

“Our goal is always for kids to get a better appreciation of where their food comes from and the people who are growing or raising it,” Bankester said. “We want to instill confidence in them to not only grow their own foods, but to try foods they might think they dislike in different ways.”

Calling the program’s first year a “huge success,” Pirkey hopes to start back up in August with all new activities.

“We really just want the kids to try new foods with simple recipes they can prepare themselves — and for them to know that healthy food can also be delicious food,” she said.

Concordia Parish 4-H’ers Aiden and Eiden Tennessee demonstrate how to make strawberry salsa to attendees at the 4-H Growing Minds SPIN Club spring farm tour. Photo by V. Todd Miller/LSU AgCenter

4-H and FFA member Woodrow Wade shows off his grand prize-winning Brangus heifer and speaks to attendees about the importance of knowing where their food comes from at the 4-H Growing Minds SPIN Club spring farm tour in Concordia Parish. Photo by V. Todd Miller/LSU AgCenter

A poster with stickers indicating if attendees liked, loved or simply tried fresh dishes prepared by 4-H’ers at the 4-H Growing Minds SPIN Club spring farm tour in Concordia Parish. Photo by V. Todd Miller/LSU AgCenter