Farming Fun!

August at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center means weekends full of Farming Fun!

The center has a brand new food garden and plenty of fun activities to help you learn the relationships between farming, food, and our climate. Learn more about Farming Fun exhibit explorations here. Looking for more about gardens, food, and farming? Check out Troy Gardens Community GroundWorks as well. Visit their beautiful grounds and interpretive trails, enjoy their educational public programs, or sign up for your very own plot!

This month, I've been thinking about starting a food garden myself! I have been to the farmer's market many times over my college career and it has sparked my desire to rely less on the grid and more on the land.

Heirloom tomatoes

As a kid, I grew 6 different varieties of heirloom tomatoes on the porch! Before then, I hated tomatoes...but all I really had experienced were mealy, soggy tomato slices melting into burger buns. My parents noticed how much I liked gardening and set me to work on growing tomatoes. Studies have shown that kids are more likely to eat their veggies when they've had some part in growing or preparing them! I was the same way, and eating a tomato that I grew was a huge improvement from the nasty pink blobs that fast food joints had been passing off as "tomatoes!"

Getting your kids involved in a garden, whether your own or a community plot, can help cement the connection between the food they eat and where it comes from. There is often a huge disconnect between most Americans and their food. For the most part, we’ve stopped questioning where our food comes from, how it is raised, and if it is good for our health. Get started with great resources from Community GroundWorks and other organizations that garden with kids, from Sustain Dane to kidsgardening.org. You don't have to stop eating the foods you love in order to save the planet...you can grow them instead!

Happy Gardening!
Melanie, Nature Net Intern