4.22.2010

The Local Food Report: planting a seed

The other day, nineteen kids showed up at the Truro Rec Department. They were there to plant seeds: literal seeds, in planting flats, and also figurative ones. You know, the grand-idea ones people like Michelle Obama are always talking about. Only this time, it was local parents like Dave Dewitt and Francie Randolph and Stephanie Rein behind the dream.


Dewitt, Randolph, and Rein—the same three who started up the Truro Ag Fair last year—recently turned their attention to local kids. In hopes of getting them into gardening (and getting more biggest tomato contest entries for the fair), the Ag Fair has teamed up with the Truro Rec Department and the Truro Public Library to put in a kid-run community garden behind the library. Dewitt donated flats and seeds, Randolph spread the word to local parents and kids, and Rein coordinated building the raised beds. The Truro Ag Fair contacted the 4H wing of the Barnstable County Extension Program and is also partnering with Judy Vollmer, director of the county's 4H programs, to bring a curriculum of gardening lessons, art projects documenting the plants' growth, and junior chef contests to town. The first seedlings are already up, and on May 1 the group is hosting a garden party inviting friends and family members to help put the plants in the ground.

Like most grand ideas, getting kids into gardening isn't a new one, but it's good one. And an important one, especially considering the way childhood obesity and diabetes rates have been skyrocketing. Tending a garden, and learning about all the work and care and worms and mess that go into growing food, has been shown to make kids much more open to fresh vegetables and fruits. They want to eat what they've grown after all that hard work. That makes introducing these vegetables again later, at home, a lot easier.


Beyond this Truro effort, there are also a lot of other opportunities—a lot more than I realized—for kids to get into gardening on the Cape. Before talking with Judy Vollmer, for example, I had no idea that the county 4H program helps kids enter their whole home gardens in the Barnstable County Fair and then sends judges out to inspect. I didn't know there was a Junior Beekeepers Club in Falmouth or that kids at the Otis Air Station in Sandwich could join a Junior Chefs league. I hadn't heard that Coonamesset Farm in East Falmouth is starting up a 4H program on animal husbandry, or that they already offer a kids' summer farm and garden program called Little Sprouts. I had no idea that local master gardeners were pairing with kids in Marstons Mills and Brewster, or that in Falmouth anyone ages three to ten could learn to speak Spanish and tend a garden at the same time !

It's very exciting, all these kids with their hands in the dirt. Of course, the best part is that it might spark a lifelong interest: in gardening, in spending time outside, in eating fresh produce, and maybe even in cooking with it too. One of Vollmer's favorite 4H garden lessons involves taking the food from seed to table. The kids plant a pizza garden—tomatoes, oregano, onions, hot peppers—and then prepare a homegrown pie come harvest time. It might be early, but the first spring efforts are already up in our garden—tiny leaves of basil, fresh spinach, herbs, chives, and spring onions. We've made pizza with them before (the recipe is over here), and tonight, inspired by all these junior chefs and master gardeners, I think we'll do it again.

11 comments :

Mallory said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mallory said...

Try this again. Elspeth is Cape Cod's Jamie Oliver. This is what wellness is all about. What good words on our 40th EARTH DAY !!!!

Elspeth said...

Mallory, thank you. I don't know about Jamie Oliver, but I do enjoy this. Happy Earth Day to you too!

Alexandra Grabbe said...

Happy Earth Day! Food, Inc. is on PBS this week. I heard the movie "Dirt" is, too. I was shocked to read that the large chemical companies have bought up most of our country's seeds. They are now free to impose genetically modified crops. Dreadful, dreadful! I hope the Ag. Fair folks, and others like them, can help reverse this. Great that they are out encouraging kids to learn about growing things!!

andrea said...

I'll vouch for the gardening/eating connection in kids. My 2 1/2 year old has always grazed in our garden. I pretend to chase her out of the kale, chard, and spinach. It looks like the plants have been mowed down by rabbits! Today she was saying, "mama, you want more cilantro" as she was stuffing her mouth. At least she helps me plant more seeds in their place!

Elspeth said...

alexandra, thanks for passing that info along. it is a scary world out there!

and andrea, that is so encouraging to hear. sometimes i feel like i have all these grand ideas about how i'm going to raise my kids to eat peas and spinach because they aren't going to have fast-food options, but since i don't have any yet it's hard to know how realistic that is. glad to hear you have a healthy eater, and an enthusiastic assistant in the dirt!

happy friday, everyone.

elspeth

Josiah Mayo said...

the asparagus is up!

hunting for wild foods can be a great way to encourage kids to have fun finding healthy things to eat.

the diary is always impressive, elspeth. great job!

Elspeth said...

josiah, are you finding it wild or do you have a patch? i've heard you can sometimes find it in old yards around here...

good to see your voice again,

e

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