She may not have a bow and arrow or hunt bears, but she does have fiery red hair and an independent spirit. No, we’re not talking about Princess Merida from Disney’s Brave, but a real life farm princess, Tessa Edick, who is connecting children to seed and soil at her Victory Garden in Copake, N.Y.
Connecting Kids
As the founder and executive director of the FarmOn! Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and public charity whose mission is to educate families about the importance of the local farming community, Edick is single-handedly changing the way families in Westchester, the Hudson Valley and New York State consume their food – by making the farming experience a part of growing up and more accessible to children.
Raised in an agricultural community and building a successful culinary business that supports local family farms, Edick is now working with Disney and the Bronx Zoo to connect children to a working farm at the zoo, where kids can connect to seed and soil while learn more about the importance of farming. And FarmOn! has just announced the opening of their educational community center and victory garden at Empire Farm, Copake, N.Y., where they welcome adults and children of all ages to see where their food comes from, with opportunities to plant and meet the farmer teaching the next generation about the business of food and farming.
Local Lunchbox
Through the help of FarmOn! Hudson Valley public schools and SUNY colleges are looking to locally source products from nearby farms rather than faraway sources. The benefits are two-fold: The local economy is supported, and the students eat fresher, healthier, nutrient-dense food that hasn’t lost vitamins or nutrients during a long transport and short ripening stage.
Edick wants parents to understand what they are feeding their children. Buying local products that are responsibly farmed is healthier for families and the community, and it tastes better, too. Parents can feed their kids more nutritious and delicious food simply by shopping from the local farmers market. “Get away from thinking it’s too expensive. How much do you value your health?” Edick asks. “Good food can’t be cheap. You are what you eat.” It is the start of a farm-to-lunchbox initiative. Skip the processed food that is typically seen around the cafeteria, Edick says. “We want to see more lunches that are provided by farmers just up the road, who you can meet and get to know and trust to feed you.”
FarmOn! has connected the farming community with local schools and SUNY to Hudson Valley Fresh, a cooperative partnership of 10 local dairy farms, to provide local milk cow-to-carton in 36 hours direct to the Taconic Hills School district, reaching 1,500 children every day. This year, the FarmOn! Local Milk Initiative with Hudson Valley Fresh will also be expanding to reach 15 new school districts. The initiative exemplifies everything that FarmOn! is about – bringing awareness to what we eat, connecting economic opportunities to rural agriculture and inspiring kids to embrace agriculture as a viable livelihood.
To further support those goals there is Camp FarmOn! a summer camp where students develop ideas for business ventures related to the local food system. As part of the camp experience, kids pitch a panel of real life venture capitalists with ideas on how local farms can make a profit and sustain profitability.
“When it comes to children and family, we should accept nothing less than the best,” says Edick. “It’s time to teach our kids about the farmers, and food and the importance of knowing where our food comes from by connecting them to our local farming community and appreciating the work they are doing each day to bring fresh healthy food to our table.”
Joining Forces
Edick is also sharing her mission of educating families about the benefits of local farms with thousands of children in the New York area thanks to Disney. Most recently, Edick participated in Disney’s Pirate & Princess: Power of Doing Good Tour event at Riverbank Park, which featured Chelsea Clinton, that encouraged kids and their families to become active in their community. FarmOn! was a big hit at the event, connecting kids to seed and soil while sharing the importance of knowing where your food comes from.
Starting this fall, the FarmOn! Foundation is joining forces with Disney and the Bronx Zoo to help educate children about farming with an interactive exhibit at the zoo. Kids can learn the benefits of locally-grown food by becoming part of the process through the experience. Just think, one day your kids might ask you to pack some of the veggies they grew in the backyard in their lunchbox instead of unhealthy processed snacks.
Beth Feldman is a frequent contributor to Westchester Family.
5 Tips to Help Connect Your Kids to Seed and Soil
The FarmOn! Foundation offers these tips to help you and your family connect with the foods you eat.
• Plant a victory garden in your backyard or community garden. This benefits your family’s healthy food consumption and teaches your children how to care for something and watch it grow. It’s also incredibly satisfying to grow something from a seed into an edible food source.
• Sign up for a local CSA. CSAs (community sourced agriculture) allow residents to have direct access to high quality, fresh produce grown locally by regional farmers. When you become a member of a CSA, you’re purchasing a “share” of fruits and vegetables from a regional farmer. CSA shares may also include local eggs, meat and/or cheese.
• Shop at your local farmers market. When shopping at the local farmers market you know that whatever you are purchasing is grown from a local farmer. You can learn about your food’s production directly from the people who are growing it, and also know exactly where it’s coming from.
• Take a road trip to the farming region. The Hudson Valley is a bountiful region filled with charm that provides a great escape from urban and suburban life. There are nearly 100 farms to visit and many have their own shops where you can purchase items straight from the farm.
• Attend a FarmOn! Event. All of the events spearheaded by the FarmOn! Foundation are designed to be enjoyable as well as educational. Attendees can experience great food while meeting the farmers responsible for putting food on our tables, and walk away with a better understanding of the local farming community. Information about FarmOn! and their events can be found at farmon.info.
