Wattles FarmA few weeks back I attended an event called the Food Dialogues hosted by the U.S Farmers and Ranchers Association. The event was held at Wattles Farm,an urban farm paradise in downtown Hollywood just right down the street from the famous Hollywood strip.
As I walked in I was shocked at the beautiful farm where fruits and vegetables of all kinds were being grown. I walked around with my mouth open as I thought about this urban farm right smack in the middle of the Los Angeles chaos. It just goes to show,no matter what the size,farms play such a pivotal role in feeding America.
Growing up in rural New Jersey,we grew a huge garden every year and as a kid,you learned how to tend to the garden and reap the fruits and vegetables of your labor. It was never a question of whether we would have a garden but more about how big were we going to make it. We would look forward to heading over to the garden every day to see what was ready to be picked. Half the time,we ate most of what we picked as we walked through the garden,there is nothing better than just picked fruits and vegetables.
Even thought we don’t have much property here in Southern California,every year we manage to plant a little garden,mainly tomatoes,peppers andstrawberries. My kids love it,everyday they are outside watering the plants and picking snails out of the garden. Like we did as kids,they eat what they pick and rarely do I get even a tomato brought inside to put in our salad.
The Food Dialogues PanelGetting back to the Food Dialogues event,I sat and listened to the panel discussion and found it extremely interesting. There were various topics discussed such as the fact that families are being pushed out of their farms by big money hedge funds,how technology is helping farmers,organic certifications,food contamination,where is our food coming from,how to get kids interested in farming and more. I really enjoyed the discussions and actually learned a lot myself!
I started thinking about kids and how their generation will affect the future of farming. The fact of the matter is,those kids living in rural areas are pretty well versed with the farming industry but the urban kids,they have no clue and I question whether they really care where our food comes from?
I took some time after the event and thought I would talk to some kids in our area about farming. Just in conversation,I polled some kids and below I have some of the questions I asked and the answers I got.
Have you ever grown a garden at your house?
1 out of 10 kids said yes and that one garden was actually a tomato plant that they grew from a seed at schoolWhat is the difference between organic and non-organic fruits vegetables?
Organic is for the rich people and non-organic is for everyone elseOrganic is grown in the ground and non-organic is grown in laboratoriesI don’t know and I don’t careDoesn’t really matter,I don’t eat themWould you be interested in going to a camp where you could work on a farm for a week out of your summer?
Only if I got paid for itNo wayMaybe,if the animals didn’t smellWhy would I want to do that?How often do cows have to be milked
Whenever they get fullOnce a weekEveryday,I thinkEvery couple of daysCrazy isn’t it? With more urban or community gardens maybe we could get kids excited about learning more about the farming industry. Buy into a community garden,take a small patch of your yard and let the kids grow a garden,bring the kids to the county fairs,suggest school gardens. The more hands on experience the kids can get,the more they will develop a passion for learning about it and realize how rewarding it is.
We have already decided in our house that next year we will increase the size of our garden and the kids will sell their goods to the neighbors!
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