Farm-based Education

Hi - I am wondering who is using Harvest of the Month tools and how you are using them (many versions of these usually by state).  Here in Vermont, they are in the midst of being updated to reflect our diversity and with a more culturally sustaining lens.  You can see ours here.   How are you using these tools in your programs? 

Hey Dana - We use the Montana Harvest of the Month program. I work for a hospital and organize high school and college student volunteers to help me visit 4th grade classrooms for a half hour once/month. We visit the classrooms and provide a half-hour lesson plan and then also give them a taste test of the food. I email the teachers a video and newsletter that are created by the Harvest of the Month program and most send those home for families to hopefully look at together. The school district also shares monthly posts for us. We mostly make up the lesson plans based off of the Harvest of the Month videos and topics - a half hour goes fast and we will do things as simple as share facts and have students write and then perform a song, or do yoga representing the plants growing. But the overarching goal is to increase opportunities for nutrition and agriculture education in schools. At the last lesson we are celebrating chickpeas and I have students sprout a chickpea in a bag - in past years students have taken these home and grown their own chickpea plant! The hospital also pays for booklets that we've created with the recipes for each month so students have a recipe book at the end of the year and something to follow along with during class. Happy to chat more or answer any questions.