What is Harvest of the month and why should I participate?
Illinois Harvest of the Month is all about celebrating local food grown right here in Illinois while encouraging healthy eating and a love of veggies! School districts or individual schools, afterschool or summer programs, early childcare, all child residential programs and garden programs are welcome to participate – any program where you’re feeding or educating children.
Registering for Harvest of the Month is free and our expertise is on tap for direct consultations. When you request a site password you gain full access to resources related to Illinois-specific harvest items. This includes:
- K-12 recipes
- CACFP recipes
- Family recipes
- Fun facts and nutrition facts
- Curriculum resources and materials
- Extension kits to help you connect to local grocery stores and your kids at home
- Tips on how to integrate harvest celebrations into cafeterias and classrooms
- Networking connections to community sites with similar programming
Here’s a sneak peek of just a few of the resources offered. When you’re ready you can request a password at
recipes
Featured food: Illinois Dairy
K-12 recipe: Butternutty Mac and Cheese
CACFP recipe: Apple Yogurt Smoothie
taste test toolkit
monthly tips email
June tips email featuring: Plums, Strawberries, Cherries and Green Beans
curriculum
CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS AND ACTIVITIES for spinach
Early childcare/preschool:
- Spinach Lane from the USDA. Click here to view the PDF of the lesson plans and activities.
K-12: