Meet DD. She is nearly 4. She likes pizza, macaroni and cheese, pasta and cereal. Despite having two vegetarian parents who really like vegetables, she will not even try anything green.
A few weeks ago I was watering my very meager garden, including a sprout of basil (which has since died, sigh). I plucked a leaf off the basil and chewed it right there, enjoying the taste. DD was interested and wanted to try one. She ate one, then another, then another, then another, and I had to then tell her to stop so she wouldn't kill the plant!
It reminded me of something I read that suggested gardening with kids to get them interested in vegetables. It seemed like DD was willing to eat the green leaves because she was interested in seeing them come right off the plant.
So, yesterday we went to our CSA farm and picked our own (organic, juicy, heavenly, bee-pollinated, etc.) strawberries, then went over and picked some peas. I expected DD to be interested in the picking part (she was) and I was even expecting her to be interested in trying a single pea (she did) but especially after the strawberries (which we ate a pint of in the time between strolling from the berry patch to the pea patch, oh about 100 yards) I didn't expect her to LIKE them. Wrong. She opened 5 pods and ate each pea (5 pods x 7 peas = 35 peas, not bad for a kid who would never eat anything green). She even said they were her favorite! (Which to her doesn't mean her absolute #1 favorite, she has other favorites, but still! It ranked among her favorites!).
I think seeing where it comes from is a big part of it, and being involved in harvest too. It was just plain interesting. And then it was a cool little surprise to open up a pod and find these sweet, cute little peas all nestled next to each other. Certainly doesn't hurt that these peas were organic and came from plants obviously bursting with vitality, and therefore tasted MUCH better than the store kind (which, despite us loving vegetables, DH and I never buy; we aren't pea fans).
So, do you guys see more enthusiasm from your kids when they garden or at least harvest the vegetables?
A few weeks ago I was watering my very meager garden, including a sprout of basil (which has since died, sigh). I plucked a leaf off the basil and chewed it right there, enjoying the taste. DD was interested and wanted to try one. She ate one, then another, then another, then another, and I had to then tell her to stop so she wouldn't kill the plant!
It reminded me of something I read that suggested gardening with kids to get them interested in vegetables. It seemed like DD was willing to eat the green leaves because she was interested in seeing them come right off the plant.
So, yesterday we went to our CSA farm and picked our own (organic, juicy, heavenly, bee-pollinated, etc.) strawberries, then went over and picked some peas. I expected DD to be interested in the picking part (she was) and I was even expecting her to be interested in trying a single pea (she did) but especially after the strawberries (which we ate a pint of in the time between strolling from the berry patch to the pea patch, oh about 100 yards) I didn't expect her to LIKE them. Wrong. She opened 5 pods and ate each pea (5 pods x 7 peas = 35 peas, not bad for a kid who would never eat anything green). She even said they were her favorite! (Which to her doesn't mean her absolute #1 favorite, she has other favorites, but still! It ranked among her favorites!).
I think seeing where it comes from is a big part of it, and being involved in harvest too. It was just plain interesting. And then it was a cool little surprise to open up a pod and find these sweet, cute little peas all nestled next to each other. Certainly doesn't hurt that these peas were organic and came from plants obviously bursting with vitality, and therefore tasted MUCH better than the store kind (which, despite us loving vegetables, DH and I never buy; we aren't pea fans).
So, do you guys see more enthusiasm from your kids when they garden or at least harvest the vegetables?
