Gardens and Farms
Outside is the place to be to make Farm to ECE a reality! Reap great benefit from normalizing being in the garden or on the farm now.
Gardens
Sprouting a seed you can eat, Plant a garden, and edible gardens are great for smaller amounts of produce! Fun, easy foods to start with include lettuce, herbs, cucumbers and squash. If you are unsure about your soil quality or have limited space to grow, consider growing food in pots or containers.
Getting young keiki used to the dirt and outdoor elements is a big part of this. Field trips to community or botanial gardens are also a fund way to have keiki experience garden spaces.
Check out gardening resources from the Hawai‘i Farm to School Hui and University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture & Human Resources (UH CTAHR).
Farms
Farms are gardens on a larger scale. Keiki getting to experience farms see the process of growing food on a larger scale and this may be a good substiute if a care site doesn't have room for a garden. The animals on the farms are also loads of fun and foster an opprotunity for keiki to practice care of other creatures.
Check out this list of field trip options to visit a farm near you!
Books about farms are also readily avaliable and imagination play around farming can be a good lead up to visiting a farm.
This is really why I made my daughters learn to garden—so they would always have a
mother to love them, long after I am gone.
-Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding SweetgrasS