Nothing teaches children to love vegetables like having them reach into the dirt past bugs, grubs and worms until they find an orange, yellow or purple root to be yanked out. Once it’s out, they will remark:
“My word father! That’s a spectacular shade of orange! How delicious that will taste once we remove the grime. Please. Can I eat one now?”
Truthfully, my oldest son does like some veggies. Peppers. They’re red! And sweet. Beans. He grew them!
A dirty, gnarled root like a carrot or a potato… well that’s a tougher sell. My theory is that the love of eating something starts with a fascination for its biology. Who doesn’t love to eat frogs? None of us did before we dissected one in high school, right? But now… you bet.
So, get ‘em started early in understanding where these gnarly roots come from. Let them watch the seeds go in for carrots. Watch the potatoes go in. Watch them turn into plants! And then, let them reach in and pull the things right out of the ground.
We’ve been slowly pulling carrots and potatoes. But it was time to strike the set at least for the carrots. I’ll grab a few more potatoes and I don’t plan on pulling them all until the stalks have died back.
So, grab yourself a gnarly root, wipe it down and cook it up!
Filed under: Uncategorized , harvesting carrots, harvesting potatoes
Oh my, I’d love to have those carrots for our supper!!
Nancy – they are delicious! I keep just grabbing them and eating them raw. Surely there must be a more creative thing for me to do!
I think that is a great way to get your kids at least interested in where their food comes from & possibly it will make them want to try the different veggies. Also you are teaching your children an appreciation for how things grow.
You are right Perennial! It’s a nice way for us to do things together. Both of us like to spend time outside in the garden and he really does understand how this stuff makes it to the table.
What a cute family you have! Enjoy your yummy roots. We sure love them here (or at least us grown ups do)!
Thank you! They are pretty darn cute….
You do have a good looking family. And your carrots look wonderful compared to mine. Still orange and taste the same, I suppose=)
Very kind gardenmama! Don’t be too fooled by the carrots though. There are some scrawny, scraggly excuses for carrots in that pile…
Yum!!!
So far gardening has not created a passion for vegetables in my children. They lost interest once the seeds were in the ground, except when it comes to watering. Although to their credit, they did each try a raw pea, fresh from the pod. And promptly spit it out. Ah well, there’s always next year. (And next year I’m going to attempt some carrots and potatoes too.)
You have a lovely family!
Thank you graceunbound! very nice of you to say. It’s funny, Kyle really does love growing and picking these veggies and he loves peppers. Liked the peas and beans. Tomatoes.. no way. Potatoes. Nope. Carrots. Nope (just like his mother!).
My kid loves to eat things straight from the garden, so pulling dirty stuff up is less appealing to her. She loves the yanking-from-the-ground part, but not so much the eating. Maybe next summer! Good for you for trying this with your kids, at least they know that veggies come from the ground, not from a plastic bag in the store!
-Karen
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