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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Did you ever grow food with your parents when you were younger?
I remember my nanny growing peas and we grew tomatoes, strawberries and different herbs at our house.

Do you grow your own fruit and/or veg with your children so they can see where it comes from?
We've attempted to grow things, but not had a huge amount of luck. Our strawberries grow well. Our broccoli was eaten by caterpillars. The gooseberry is a bit temperamental, we had a lovely crop 2 years ago but only half a dozen before and after that. The potatoes turned out ok but the peas were not great. We have another gooseberry and a raspberry in the garden that are new so we will have to see how that goes.

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?
We grow the strawberries on the balcony and the rest in the garden but think our garden doesn't get enough sun.
The children and my husband are always taking the seeds from fruit and veg and popping them in pots, but they forget what they've put in and they always put too many seeds in.

I'm not really a gardener, so my children don't have first hand experience of growing fruit or veg, but as we live on a beef and sheep farm they are well aware of where meat comes from.

I spent many happy hours at my grandads allotment as a youngster. It was always much more exciting to eat food that you'd picked earlier that day!

We have now comandereed part of my dad's garden as a family veg plot, and my neices and nephews are always keen to get involved.

My father grew tomatoes in the greenhouses. My grandmother was more inclined to grow runner beans, raspberries and potatoes. I grow herbs. I’m afraid I’ve not been very successful with other foods, as the slugs get to them because I don’t use pellets. I’ve tried to tell my son about healthy eating, but he’s not really interested in gardening. Maybe I should get him to help me plant some seeds!

My Grandad had a huge back garden and about 3/4 of it was for growing veg, his front garden was full of flowers. We always had fresh tomatoes, beetroot, onions, marrows, lettuce, spuds, beans and so on.
He is no longer with us but my children know where their fruit and veg comes from - we always take them to Pick your own and pick what's in season then use it for baking and dinners.
We have just today planted some seeds for beans and mint.

My kids are still young but the oldest has now become interested in where food comes

The difference between eggs you eat and eggs that hatch

What meat is from what animal

Even down to showing her the chicks that her snake eat after looking after some chicks at school.

She finds it very interesting. She is now currently growing a bean plant which unfortunately isn't going to plan and will probably need to be replaced but she always asks to see the pot and is amazed at how much it grows

My parents never grew food at home but I remember my Grandad did and well remember going to collect cockles and mussels on Formby beach with him, which we cooked later.
My little one loved picking strawberries from the garden last summer.

My mum used to grow rhubarb when i was younger but i hated it, vile stuff!

My children love growing things but it never works out well. Our harvests are tiny, there are loads of slugs who devimate our plants, and i find it hugely expensive for little gain!

As children, we used to have a small space in the garden and it was always really exciting to feel it was 'our' patch that we could grow vegetables in. We were rarely very successful, but it still felt exciting to see things grow and be able to eat them.
I try and adopt the same approach with my DC. We grow cress seeds on the kitchen shelf, vegetables in random containers in the garden and vegetables in patches in the garden. We throw seeds in and mostly hope for the best. We have planted an apple tree in our new garden (to replace the one we sadly left behind when we moved) and we go foraging in the local brook for blackberries, elderflowers and wild garlic.
Growing your own food - even tiny amounts in small pots - is so exciting, and much cheaper than buying - I'm always amazed that more people don't do it!
I also think its much more likely that children will try new things if they have grown it.

We had an amazing set of raspberry canes growing up. My mum loved them so we had loads.
We also grew runner beans and I grew potatoes a few times.
My kids have grown sunflowers and eaten some seeds, fed the rest to the birds. We've also grown pumpkins. I instantly see the difference in their wellbeing when they've spent time outdoors, time creating something instead of watching screens.

My parents and my ILs are all keen gardeners, so dh and I grew up knowing exactly where fruit and veg come from and the amount of work involved.

Dh and I are not keen gardeners! So our dc don't have quite that connect as we did. But we make sure that there are plenty of food plants in our garden, and encourage the dc to eat them. I'm also a keen forager, so my dc often surprise their friends by picking and munching while they're out and about.

When I was young my father grew potatoes but they were often diseased as he was working hard and didn't have enough time to look after them. Now in retirement they have a beautiful house by the sea and an amazing vegetable garden growing courgettes, beans, peas, kale and even things you cannot find in the uk. They also have a greenhouse growing peppers, aubergines and simply marvellous nectarines and grapes. During the summer months they are practically self sufficient. I take my children there and we learn about where food comes from and they love eating from the plants. Unfortunately in our little London garden all we have space for are pots of tomatoes, strawberries and there are raspberries growing out the back. Last year my grapevine was fruitless, hoping for a warmer summer so the kids and I can get some of its fruit. I teach the children about fruit and veg and we go to pick your own places.

For their early years, DC's school run had a 2 farm shops and an asparagus farm
The range of pyo was amazing - obviously strawbs and rasps but also rhubarb, cabbage, cauliflower, various beans
Was lovely at the end of sch day picking there own stuff for dinner

When I was little my mum and grandma grew a few fruits and vegetables. One year when I was about 10 we had tomato plants in a greenhouse and it was my job to water them every day before and after school. I took my responsibility really seriously and I was so proud of those tomatoes, I really felt like I'd grown them myself. And when it was time to eat them, they were so much tastier than shop bought ones.

With my kids now, we only got a garden very recently and I don't have much time to garden properly but I plan to grow at least some herbs soon. In the meantime, we've planted 4 trees, including 2 fruit trees and now spring's coming we've been having lots of fun going out every day to check how the buds are growing and whether we can see the leaves beginning to grow yet.

We also take them out picking wild food quite often - for example wild mushrooms in the autumn and just this morning my husband took them picking wild garlic (he makes a kind of pesto out it with olive oil and salt that we use with just about everything). It's really important to us that they respect plants and know not to damage them and also understand what is safe to eat and what what isn't.

My mum alwYs grow her own veg and grandad had a large allotment, so I grew up shelling peas and broadbeans. I grew up on a dairy farm so had a good understanding of where all food comes from, crops grown etc.

DC spend time with my mum, growing veg, planting it and harvesting it. They also grow things at Cubs and Brownies, the latest being a broad bean in a jam jar.

Oh dear... i feel bad. I've never grown my own food except for potatoes by accident when I was younger. Never really seriously considered it with my children. It seems like so much hard work and i assume slugs or animals would eat it all anyway... or it would taste crap. My mum has a 'apple' tree and there is no way I would ever eat any of them. If there's one that's worm free, it's usually tiny and rock hard. What can you actually grow at home easily? Except for basil and cress?

I’d love to grow my own but I don’t know where to start and I’m very good at killing plants. I keep trying with herbs without much success I’d really like to try some strawberries though

I never grew much that we ate apart from cress when we were younger. I remember trying to grow strawberries and them being eaten by birds and generally not very nice! I was a bit wussy with wild food too and wouldn't touch it! I must have sub consciously picked it up from my mum who isn't great with such things, although she never really tried to put me off. My Grandad though used to teach us about edible plants in the woods and take us scrumping (!) and I would eat a bit on those trips.

We don't have a huge garden but we have a handful of large pots on the decking and each year we try and grow something edible. Sugar snap peas have been the most successful but we also grow carrots and this year I think we'll try potatoes. We also encourage wild food eating although we don't scrump :)

My stepdad had an allotment whilst I was growing up (and still grows fruit and veg to this day).

I try to grow something every year with m daughter but it always goes a little wrong. It involves a lot of time and effort. We are a family where both parents work full time and do not have much family nearby so we tend to be quite strapped for quality time, so we tend to end up opting for other things than tending to the garden.

We'll try it again this year and keep our fingers crossed haha

We used to grow fruit in the garden when I was a child - I loved picking raspberries and gooseberries in the summer. Now I live in a large town with my own children, so we have an allotment where they can run a little wild, grow fresh fruit and veg and even take care of chickens from time to time. I love being able to grow and cook our own produce and they love eating fruit straight from the plants!

My family growing up weren't gardeners I thought but always grew potatos, runner beans, brussel sprouts, purple sprouting. I just took it for granted really. I loved being out in the garden but my children never have really. We did grow courgettes and tomatos one year and we have raspberries that just appear each year as well as apples and plums.

We are lucky that when we moved in there were already mature fruit plants including raspberries and gooseberries. Both of my dc have had a go at growing strawberries and tomatoes outdoors over the last couple of years, and it’s been a good ‘learning curve’ in that my dd nurtured hers and they grew well whereas my DS neglected his and they didn’t! It’s made them more aware of growing on a larger scale.

We have grown tomato zuchinni parsley rosemary squash fennel peppers lambs pigglets calf kid goats etc. My son loves it all

We've grown flower seeds before but this year are finally having a go at growing some fruit and veggies. We've got some strawberry plants in pots and just planted some butternut squash, runner bean, rocket and tomato seeds. We're lucky that we've recently moved to somewhere with a big garden, so have the space to hopefully grow a fair bit (if we can get on top of the weeds).

I planted a blueberry bush and a plum tree last year so hoping to see some fruits on at least the blueberry this year. And failing it all we have a rhubarb that seems to be doing well!

It's lovely getting to garden and plant with the kids, and they will be so excited if and when things start to grow. It's very much a learning curve for us though as we don't have much experience of gardening

We didn't really grow much but my grandfather did, his entire back garden was like an allotment.

I grow now with my DS. A mixture, this year I let him choose and he's chosen tomatoes, onions and runner beans. I'm doing potatoes, carrots, lettuce and broccoli as well. All in tubs. I try to grow varieties that aren't available in the shops so our carrots are a purple variety.