Farm Field Trips

Saturday, my group did a lesson plan on the benefits of fruits and vegetables.  Depending on where you teach, there will be some children who are not exposed to fruit and vegetables that do not come out of can or maybe not at all.  Also no matter where you teach, unless it is an agriculturally dominant area, many children are not aware of how these fruits and vegetables grow.  They are not aware of the difference of root vegetables, fruit trees, fruit growing on vines, or on shrubs.  Tennessee has a great website called Pick your own farms... www.pickyourown.org/TN.htm  This gives you the time a year that fruits or vegetables are in season, locations and times that they are open.  Many of these farms cater to school groups and are prepared with tour guides to show children how the farms work and how things grow.  These trips can be educational.  Also farmer's markets are in many towns and cities.  To promote these markets, there will be people who can show kids fresh produce and how that is grown.  They also discuss the road from farm to the grocery store.