Job Harvest of the Month Profile: Gill-Montague Regional School District

Lessons from the Gill-Montague Regional School District

Mistelle Hannah is the Food Service Director of the Gill-Montague School District. Since she became the food service director, she has re-implemented and is developing the Harvest of the Month Program. We interviewed her earlier this year to speak about her experiences.

Procurement

The Gill-Montague School District primarily sources their local food from Joe Czajkowski, out of Hadley. Mistelle notes that he sources from other farmers, so working with him is like working with a local food distributor. From Czajkowski, she can order certain types of vegetables that are processed prior to delivery. For example, Mistelle has ordered both carrot sticks and carrot coins from him. In addition to Joe Czajkowski, Mistelle also uses the USDA FNS Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program as they will indicate local sources in their produce catalogue. (Click here to read the USDA’s guide to Using DoD Fresh to Purchase Local Produce) . Last year, they sourced milk from McCray’s when dairy was featured.

Promotion & Implementation

One of the most successful items on the menu has been kale chips, which were first featured last year. Mistelle has seen the popularity of the chips grow, stating that, “initially, I would get a bushel for the whole district, and I’d have some left over we’d use as garnish. And now I could probably get a bushel a week, put them out, and they would get consumed.”

Students from the Gill-Montague district are also exposed to the resources Massachusetts Farm to School provides. The poster for the monthly crop is put up on the wall every month, but Mistelle plans to put all twelve posters up at once after seeing it done at another school. During open houses, Mistelle educates parents and students on various crops, passing out trading cards and stickers.On the school’s lunch menu, a picture of the Harvest of the Month crop is posted along with a fun fact about the crop, which she calls a, “nutrition nugget.”

For younger students, Mistelle has also come up with creative ways to promote Harvest of the Month crops. In the 2015-2016 school year, when Seeds and Seedlings were promoted in the district, students in Pre-K through First Grade had Lucky Tray Day. During lunch, if a student finds an I tried it! sticker, provided by Mass. Farm to School, they would win a local seedling pod. The Lucky Tray Day was very popular with the students, so Mistelle also implemented it during the summer food program.

Advice & Challenges

One of the main challenges Mistelle faces in participating in Harvest of the Month is coordinating delivery because Gill-Montague is a smaller district. Although Czajkowski does deliver, Mistelle finds that for the amount of food they order, sometimes it is just not worth the drive. Her staff also finds that participating in Harvest of the Month can be challenging because of the inconsistency in the dependability of receiving local food to work with.

However since Gill-Montague has only been participating in the Harvest of the Month Program for two years, Mistelle is still in the process of figuring out what works and does not work for her district. A piece of advice from Mistelle is to try to think outside of the box, “don’t feel as though you have to [do each activity or recipe] the website is telling you,” you can adapt it to your school and/or district. She also advises that others don’t just feature the Harvest of the Month crop as a solo menu item twice a month because you have to. Instead, try to substitute one ingredient for a Harvest of the Month ingredient every week in different recipes, if possible.