My daughter came home from school the other day and announced that she absolutely adores beets. “Beets!” I repeated in total disbelief, remembering my rather lame attempts at encouraging her to eat salad the week before. “Yes”, she chattered on, “I ate them in garden class today at school”. It turned out that her wonderful gardening teacher at the urban charter school that she attends had got the kids to dig up some of the beets that they had planted back in the fall. They then peeled and grated them into a large bowl and dressed them with olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt and pepper. I just wanted to hug the teacher for not only getting my 8 year-old to love beets, but also for having the patience and care to corral this sometimes unruly bunch in a little urban garden (which is proudly affiliated with the Alice Water’s Edible Schoolyard program), and to spark their interest in growing food.
Granted, edible yards are somewhat in vogue this year, helped in great part by Michele Obama, who had been frequently photographed knee-deep in mud in the White House edible yard. It’s a huge step in the right direction, especially for kids, and now that Jamie Oliver is going into classrooms in “the unhealthiest town” in America to make sure that kids know an eggplant from an artichoke, we’re getting on track to the kind of preventative health care that’s been missing for decades.
Gardening and getting your kids involved in the whole process of growing food is an integral step in getting them to enjoy their food.
It’s one thing presenting your child with a plate of boiled green veggies and quite another thing for them to present you with something they’ve grown themselves. It gives them a degree of control and even better if you can get them involved in the preparation and cooking too. Kids love making dressings or even a garlicky butter to slather over broccoli or green beans.
So I invite you to get your kids to grow something, anything this year. If you live in an apartment, a planter on a balcony or large sunny windowsill will be perfect for cherry tomatoes and basil.
If you have a little more space, I highly recommend an Earth Box. This year I’m growing all my tomatoes, bell peppers and eggplants in these ingenious boxes on casters. They contain a water reservoir, which is a really efficient method of irrigation and you can wheel the boxes around to follow the sun, if like me you only get a bit of sun in your yard. Also check out Amber’s Garden Kid’s Veggie mats – very cool!
So if there’s a veggie that your children dislike, try getting them to grow it, and remember, teaching them to grow their own food is a very precious gift.
