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Looking for clever ways to teach kids about local food?

11.25.2008

Submitted by aguru on Tue, 11/25/2008 - 1:36pm.
The Bite:
Try this trick: Visit a local farm that lets you pick what’s in season - right now, that means stuff like potatoes, apples, and squash. Like magic, kids’ll learn about where food actually comes from (yeah, not from your cupboards) and get quality time outdoors. You might need a hat, just no rabbit…
The Benefits: 
  • Abracadabra…a cleaner planet. Picking foods locally rather than from a supermarket reduces the average farm-to-plate miles from 1,500 to less than 100 - cutting down on CO2 emissions from shipping.
  • Levitating kid nutrition levels. Local produce picked ripe rather than earlier (to survive a 2-week truck delivery) has more time to soak in nutrients from the stem.
  • No illusions about eating right. Studies show that your kids model their eating habits after you (cleaning habits, not so much).
Personally Speaking: 
Lauren Whitehurst of Durham, NC, says her kids (seven-year-old twins Jack and Emma) love going to the farm, but “That might be because I let them choose pumpkins for their rooms.”
Wanna Try: 
  • LocalHarvest.org - for a full list of u-pick farms, plus farmers markets, events, and info on heritage crop.
  • PickYourOwn.org - websites and directions to local farms in your area, plus resources for canning, too.
  • FarmFresh.org - for pick-your-own farms and farmers markets in the northeast (and soon beyond).

Timeout

Joanna Healey from Cherry Hill, NJ, sent this pic of Emma, her three-year-old, in a local patch.

Bang For The Bite

If 10,000 Mama Biters pick local foods with their kids, those young Biters’ll develop better eating and eco habits.

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