Annie's + Bernie's Farm: Real Food is Fun
ever since we started our first garden in earnest, elodie and francesca have loved everything to do with growing food and watching the first shoots appear in the garden beds. they harvest our kale, sweet peas, broccoli, carrots, and beets and help me make kale chips and big salads with the ingredients.
on a recent thursday afternoon, we sat down with a big farmer's market box that
sent us that was filled with healthy
and meals from their new
, as well as fun activities, a kit to grow some of our own fruits and vegetables, and a little gardening tool set. the girls opened the seed kit, filled the little pots with soil, and marveled at the different shapes and sizes of the seeds. it's so great that
is working to make snacking a little more meaningful by teaching children where food comes from.
i always try to pack the girls lunches with fruit and veggies from our garden and local farmer's market and will sometimes pack
as well. i love their commitment to organic ingredients and the fact that they use no artificial flavors, synthetic colors or preservatives. the shapes and colors of bernie's farms snacks are super fun and feature little tractors, farm animals, and carrots.
since it was thursday, after we planted and had a snack, we made our list and headed out for our weekly trip to the farmer's market. it has been such a great place to introduce the girls to a variety of fruits and veggies that change throughout the season. they are way more likely to try new foods if they have selected it themselves and they get to actually meet the people who grow what we are buying.
another great learning tool that really helps reinforce where our food comes from is a book called
by gerda muller. it is the story of a little girl who lives in the city and gets her vegetables from the supermarket. it then follows her to her grandparents' farm and shows what goes in to growing fruits and vegetables. it has such lovely illustrations and it is fun hearing elodie tell people about her favorite parts of the book. knowing that we are connected to the food cycle is one of the greatest bits of knowledge that she could have. real food IS fun.
