Summer Fun!

Anne McHale is an MTCC AmeriCorps VISTA serving with the FoodCorps team in Glendive.

With school out for the summer, the only way to garden with kids is to… find kids! Here in Glendive, summer options are limited for school aged kids and with an influx of families looking for energy- related work in the oilfields of Eastern Montana and Western North Dakota, childcare centers, the Boys and Girls Club, and preschools are pretty overwhelmed and thrilled to offer any programming we can put together.

Snacking on pomegranate seeds

 The MTCC Summer Associate, Allison, and I are excited about a full summer schedule that will include gardening and food classes three times per week at the Boys and Girls Club, gardens at two area preschools and two, two-week “Food Class” sessions with the Glendive Parks and Recreation Department.  With a great deal of creative license, we have WAY too many ideas to be practical, but luckily teaching kids about food is very conducive to quick, diverse lessons that incorporate physical movement, interactive learning and, of course, snacks.   

Testing radishes

My host site, Farm to Table, is also very conducive to teaching kids about food with a dry food packing facility (Western Trails Food), a local/organic/allergy sensitive food store, and a community garden in the works at a vacant downtown lot. Any one of these projects compliments the others and together they begin to paint a picture of the complexity our food system entails. 

Training peas

 Here are some of the lessons we have planned: stay tuned to hear how they go!

-   Planting

Sprouting pomegranate seeds

-  Garden planning
-   Identifying wild foods
-   Native food traditions
-   Cooking- pizza, sushi
-   Sprouting seeds
-   Planning a meal
-   Farm to Table Store scavenger hunt
-   Eating seasonally
-  Weeding
-   Harvesting
-   Composting
-   Farm Field Trips
-  Grain Elevator field trips