ASHS 2025 Conference

Seeding Success - The Louisiana Farm to School (F2S) Program sponsors a four-day intensive training targeting teachers and those that support school gardening and integrating gardens into the curriculum. The training has been offered each summer for the past five years with classroom and hands-on horticulture training in the mornings and in the afternoons, demonstration of classroom lessons linked to state standards, taste tests, and integration of farm to school into the classroom. The horticulture program focuses on the horticulture extension materials developed for the F2S program under the Sustainable School and Home Garden series, including the Louisiana Planting Guide and individual crop guides with all the materials available on the seedstosuccess.com website. Hands-on horticulture activities such as vermicomposting, composting, seeding and “bumping up” and planting transplants are introduced each day that are designed to be used in schools. All of the activities are intended to support the development and maintenance of school gardens and curriculum development. Participants provided feedback on the training and overwhelming benefited from the School Gardening Leadership Certificate Program. Data from the extension program will be presented including data on program, specific topics, and analytics.