Mumsnet users discuss getting their children to understand where food comes from with innocent

[JustineBMumsnet]

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Getting your DC’s to learn about and understand where their food comes from, can be a great way to ensure they are engaged with what they are eating...particularly healthier foods such as veggies and fruit. innocent would love to hear about your own growing experiences, and/or any barriers you may face growing your own food at home.

Here is what innocent has to say: “With 9 out of 10 young people not getting their 5-a-day, we’re on a mission to get kids growing and eating their own veg. Growing at home doesn’t have to be complicated. You just need seeds, soil and a windowsill. In such a fast-moving, instant gratification world, growing their own food also teaches kids the value of patience, and gives them an understanding of where their food comes from. More time getting their hands dirty, less time glued to screens.”

Did you ever grow food with your parents when you were younger? Do you grow your own fruit and/or veg with your children so they can see where it comes from? If you do grow your own food, tell us what works and what doesn’t – and your tips and tricks for growing! Do you grow in the garden, or indoors? Or perhaps you would love to grow your own food but you feel you don’t have enough space?

Whatever your experiences and methods comment on the thread below to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

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When I was a child I do feel I was more in touch with where food came from and ate more from scratch, also due to there being more time with only one parent working and less availability of processed foods. We used to take walks, blackberry pick, we had butcher meat packs and always a huge bag of spuds in the outhouse. And I had a mini garden myself as well as my parents veg patch to help myself from. My daughter and I now live in a first floor flat, no garden, no outside space, I work and time is an issue...how times change. But I do love to get out and about with my daughter and teach her as much as possible. Weather permitting I do love strawberry and raspberry picking. She also joins Nana in the same veg patch. School also has an eco garden. But I'd love to say we grow our own veg, buy in farm shops, eat organic and spend our time in a garden but I'm afraid it's not possible. And despite the super 6 veggie offers, etc huge packs of frozen foods make more affordable meals for those on a budget, so I can understand the statistics of today.

We always grew fruit/veggies in our back garden when I was a child. I would be sent out to dig up spuds or pick runner beans, mint, logan berries or rhubarb for tea. My grandad had an allotment and grew almost all of his own veg too. Sadly we don't grow anything now apart from a few herbs - and brambles which take over the garden as it's so neglected!

Getting your DC’s to learn about and understand where their food comes from, can be a great way to ensure they are engaged with what they are eating

It's a longstanding tradition in my family too just accomplish that by yelling "MINT SAUCE!" out of the window at sheep.

Did you ever grow food with your parents when you were younger? Only herbs on the windowsill, but We grew up surrounded by countryside so Mum bought all veg seasonally from the local farmer.
Do you grow your own fruit and/or veg with your children so they can see where it comes from? * Yes we have a good ever expanding vegetable patch as well as some tubs with potatoes. I started with growing herbs on the windowsill when my ds was small, but we now have veg almost all year around. you do grow your own food, tell us what works and what doesn’t – and your tips and tricks for growing! * My tips for growing are only grow what you like eating we learnt this the hard way the first year with s vegetable patch we were overrun with cauliflower and allow plenty of space for things... put them in your flowerbeds if you need to. you grow in the garden, or indoors? * We grow in our garden, with the exception of a couple of pits on the windowsill in the kitchen. We also grow some bits in the front garden, these are all things I don't mind sharing with neighbours and anyone passing and in summer we put a sign up so people know they can take anything from there. It's enabled me to get to know most of the street!*

Did you ever grow food with your parents when you were younger?
No we didn’t, but grandparents did and we were encouraged to help out.

Do you grow your own fruit and/or veg with your children so they can see where it comes from?
We have done in the garden mixed in with the beds (potatoes, berries, salad, tomatoes). We had an allotment when they where small, but they screamed as soon as I got there so had to give it up!

If you do grow your own food, tell us what works and what doesn’t – and your tips and tricks for growing!
I have a small garden so like to hide fruit, veg and herbs in our boarders like a potager garden. The kids then get very involved as it’s accessible. I give them the job of watering seeds. We are of an age now where we can start experimenting (carrot tops, cress heads, seedling mazes).

Do you grow in the garden, or indoors? Or perhaps you would love to grow your own food but you feel you don’t have enough space?
We grow in our garden. It’s really small, but everything has to be edible, smell nice or be beautiful. That’s the criteria. Edible usually wins!

Oh and we have just signed up to a veg box scheme. Really local in that we can visit the farm (pick up is our local pub!). Means they know veg are now delivered muddy and they are learning more different veg and trying more (braised cabbage yesterday!)

I grew vegetables and fruit with my grandparents, and I was also in a little club in school that turned a jungle piece of wasted land in to a vegetable patch. We took turns watering it daily and then met once a week after school to do any weeding, planting, harvesting etc and what we grew was ours to take home when it was ready, it was great but there were only 5 of us which is really disappointing from a club offered to the whole of the juniors

I grow fruit and vegetables now and as the DC have grown older they have become more and more involved. We've done blind taste tests comparing our homegrown items to shop bought ones, and it's always obvious which is which because homegrown just has so much more flavour

I find that the problems I face with growing our own are -
Cost definitely, it used to be cheaper to grow instead of buy but it's certainly not anymore
Weather, can completely destroy a crop meaning you've put the time, effort and money in for nothing
Having a glut of one type of vegetable or fruit all at once and then no more for a year
Younger DC get disappointed when there isn't much happening for a while

The taste makes it all worth it though, and I've found that it's helped to increase the range of fruit and vegetables that DC eat because they are proud that they grew it, and the blind taste test is fun so it gets them trying new things without really realising

My late dad and I grew veg when I was growing up - he had a small patch in the allotment out the back of our house. We grew carrots, potatoes, runner beans, all sorts really. Also had a couple of raspberry canes.

I’ve grown some potatoes in a giant pot with my two DDs, they loved it when it was time to did them up - they counted how many we harvested and then went and washed them all really carefully. I think they really enjoyed the experience.

We grow herbs in pots in our back garden and I’ve taught my oldest which is which and how to use them in cooking etc

We will be growing again this summer too : I have potatoes again in a big pot (you can use special potato bags too) , also planning some tomatoes, and strawberries (both I’m going to try in pots and baskets this year).

We have a garden for the first time this year and are attempting to grow various veg! Local cats and snow are the biggest issue so far, but indoor sprouted have been successful as do easy! DC too young to understand where food comes from but hoping it will help as they grow!

We don't have much space to grow but last year we grew runner beans, courgettes, and lettuce. My then 6 year old really enjoyed checking the progress of all our veg and was desperate for them to be big enough for us to pick, unfortunately he wasn't so desperate to eat them once harvested but I did manage to get a few runner beans down him!

No I don’t remember ever growing fruit and veg with my parents although my grandparents had a couple of fruit trees.

I’ve tried to grow fruit and veg with my children in the garden with varying degrees of success. Over the last few years we’ve grown potatoes, carrots, green beans, tomatoes, strawberries and lettuces.

I grew carrots and sugar snap peas with my brother when we were children (and mum also grew potatoes, onions, sweetcorn, strawberries, and we had a blackcurrant bush and two apples trees) - she grew up on a farm so knew a lot about growing food, the potatoes grown on my grandad's farm were the best tasting potatoes I ever had.

I've tried to grow cress with my daughter but the cat wouldn't leave it alone! We planted strawberries plants last year and hope that they will produce this summer (took the flowers off last summer so they would put their energy into growing bigger rather than growing fruit in the first season).
I want to knock down our summer house and put a greenhouse there instead but I'm so terrible at looking after plants I probably won't manage to grow anything much! Want to grow cherry tomatoes though, onions, and chives.

My staple diet growing up was something and chips (pizza & chips, pie & chips, sausage & chips etc) it was only when I left home that I discovered pasta, rice, vegetables, fruit! Shameful but true! Lol

Did you ever grow food with your parents when you were younger?
I was very lucky to grow up in with a large garden which my dad kept, with a small growing area for cabbages, potatoes, and the dreaded sprout, he used 4 old tyres to grow herbs (mint, rosemary, thyme and garlic) so we could pick herbs for cooking - we particularly loved mint - on everything.
Do you grow your own fruit and/or veg with your children so they can see where it comes from? If you do grow your own food, tell us what works and what doesn’t – and your tips and tricks for growing!
My children love to grow food and I grow the 'easy to grow' with quick results particular to they don't loose interest so we grow garden peas and love to watch them growing up the bamboo cane supports with their tiny 'hands' Do you grow in the garden, or indoors? Or perhaps you would love to grow your own food but you feel you don’t have enough space?
we grow strawberries in troughs, but they were a bit sour, so we made some jam with those, and are trying the plants in a different more sunny spot in the garden, so hopefully we would get larger sweeter strawberries.
My tips would be, grow mint - which children love in a trough or large plantpot or it will spread, and I would also recommend picking a crop which you can plant in April/May and grows quickly we love peas, broad beans, and if you have room for a small greenhouse cherry tomatoes. I have found that my children love to get their watering cans out, plant, water, watch and eat the crop of sweet vegetables.

I loved helping my dad in the garden but as I got older I did get a bit fed up at having the job of picking from the prickly gooseberry bushes.
My own girls didn't show much interest in gardening but ate home produced fruit and veg. I have a grandson who loves to come and help on the allotment - his favourite job being watering of course and I give him plants for his little patch in his garden each year. He loves the sweetcorn which grows really fast when it gets going and runner beans that get taller than him. One of my three daughters tries to engage her boys with growing veg but the smallest boy likes digging better than planting so the results so far have not been encouraging. I usually give them a well grown bush tomato with tiny fruit that they can pick and eat whenever they wish

Did you grow food and veg when you were younger?
When I was younger my grandparents grew lots of fruit and vegetables in their (small council) garden which we all got to enjoy, from tomatoes and strawberries to runner beans and marrows. They lived through the war with food rationing and so growing their own produce and keeping chickens was not just a joy but a necessity. My favourite was my nan's blackberry jelly jam which was absolutely delicious (and which I have made myself and many of her other recipes). She also grew big herb gardens which smelled wonderful and must have been great for attracting the bees. We grew up eating very healthily and everything was homemade.
Do you grow your own veg?
I would love to grow my own veg in the garden but our soil is not safe for growing things. I have indoor herb pots and I have grown watercress and flowers from seed so that my kids can see the process of how things grow. My children do understand the importance of 5 a day and I always make things from scratch. At school they grow fruit and veg which the children get to eat and I think is a great idea. We seem to have lost the basic skills or not have the time or space to grow our own fruit and veg. There are allotments near us but the waiting lists are very long, so a communal place or local schemes would an idea (but funding would be an issue). Eating food straight from the source and in their unperfect form is so much tastier.

My parents grew beans and carrots during my childhood. Now we are growing some potatoes. To ensure you have a successful harvest of food, make sure to read about when to plant your chosen vegetables in terms of the season.

We grow our own cherry tomatoes. My children even name their plants. We’ve grown cress too but it’s not as exciting and it’s cheaper to just buy cress than actual cress seeds.
I haven’t been brave enough to try anything else. I really want to try pumpkins this year!
My children really enjoy growing tomatoes so it would make sense to try other things.

we tend to grow cress as it is mega easy indoors.
we do yearly attempt carrots outside and also potatoes as these are probably one of the easier items to grow.
the children love it and are always amazed.

The school does a great job of planting bean seeds every year. We have courgettes at home and also grow our own herbs.

We didn’t grow anything when I was younger but we are attempting to grow strawberries and carrots this year.

Did you ever grow food with your parents when you were younger?

No I didn't it's only been in the more recent years that my Mum has started to grow vegetables at home in her garden with good success so it's meant my children are growing up around vegetables being grown as I missed this in my childhood.

Do you grow your own fruit and/or veg with your children so they can see where it comes from? No but this is something we are now going to start doing as my Daughter has a love of gardening we have already planted lots of new flowers in the garden last summer and we are now seeing them flower and the excitement on my daughters face makes me melt. We have a fenced off corner of the garden which is going to be dedicated to vegetable growing with the guide of my Mum's gardening knowledge this summer.

We have all our plants outside and will grow our vegetables outside this summer.
We are very fortunate to have such a big garden so definitely have the space available. x

Did you ever grow food with your parents when you were younger?
Yes, you name it we grew it. French beans, runner beans, broad beans sweet corn , peas, lettuce, grapes... really yes grapes.. asparagus, courgettes, tomatoes cucumbers, leeks potatoes, onions, chillis, sweet peppers , garlic, shallots, carrots, chicory, cabbage, swede, beetroot, nasturtiums, turnips, Purple broccoli, Swiss chard, kale, spinach, Jerusalem artichokes , normal artichokes, apples..10 varieties, plums cherries, damsons, raspberries, red and white currents and lots of herbs. Sure I have missed something My mum had a 1/2 acre dedicated to growing food. and another 1.5 for the free range chickens and the mature fruit trees. and another acre of flower decorative garden. She often opened up the gardens to charity Funnily never strawberries or blackcurrant, but farm next door grew them. We had to go and pick fresh veg and fruit everyday for meals, and when we got a glut it was mass freezer and preserve making, wine and cider production. It was just like "The Good Life"

Do you grow your own fruit and/or veg with your children so they can see where it comes from? I grow a few herbs but that's it, but my mum in her late 80's still grows runner and french beans cucumber tomatoes lettuce in small raised beds in her new small garden and the children get exposure through her, and I did keep chickens again for 2 years but urban foxes got the better of them

I can remember growing herbs with my mum and dad, my grandad grew more stuff and made all sorts of strange things like turnip wine. My fondest memories are of foraging for berries, plums and cherries. I continue that with my kids and they love to make blackberry jam, elderflower cordial, plum crumble, apple compote. We have also grown potatoes, tomatoes and most herbs at home.

I never grew with my parents but my grandparents grew lots of stuff for us to take home. I have fond memories of eating fresh tomatoes straight out of the greenhouse and picking gooseberries outside along with cucumber, lettuce, cabbage and carrots.
I have a small garden and things we have tried to grow together have failed apart from a sunflower! We do grow herbs and cress on the windowsill