Fruits and Veggies: More Matters

By:

The Hunger Task Force SNAP-Ed Program’s overall goal is to encourage students to eat more fruits and vegetables.  MPS students learn how to identify fruits and vegetables in our student garden and practice preparing them both for raw consumption and in cooked dishes.  Each visit to the farm results in new vegetables learned and at least one recipe that kids can make at home!  Check out one of the students’ favorite dishes that they themselves made together:

Having a good attitude towards eating produce is essential for starting to eat more fruits and vegetables.  When kids grow food themselves, they’re more likely to want to try it themselves too.  We also play games centered on produce and each student identifies his- or herself with a fruit or vegetable, such as “Asparagus Ashley” and “Tomato Tyron”.  Lastly, each garden bed has its own theme that is used to give an interactive nutrition lesson, such as our MyPlate bed and Pizza bed.  See what great produce the students are growing and enjoying with all their senses!

Next year we’ll have a complete perennial garden in addition to our garden with fruits, vegetables, and herbs.  Then students will learn about which types of foods you can plant and re-grow every year without much work at all!  We’ll also give program veterans the Hunger Task Force cookbook, which will include all of the recipes they worked on together as well as many more tasty low-cost, garden-based recipes.