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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We didn't grow fruit or vegetables growing up, but it's important to me that we do with DS. You have the planters ready and will be starting with herbs and salad veg this year whilst DS is still little, so he can experience smells and textures.

We used to grow tomatoes, potatoes and lots of herbs when I grew up.

Now I live in a flat where space is limited but we still have a herb garden, we always spend a bit of time with the baby near the plants so that he can touch them and smell them and when I’m not looking pull them over 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

When I was little my job on a Sunday was to venture down the bottom of my nanna's garden to pick off the mint leaves she had sown with me the year before,I would collect a big bag and then we would both chop it up smelling the fresh aroma as we did it,I must have been about 5yrs old.
We never had a garden at our house (2 up 2 down back to back house) but nanna would give me herbs to grow in the kitchen.
When we moved to a garden house when I was about 12 my dad and I grew tomatoes and potatoes and my job then was to keep the toms off shoots tidy and to dead head the flowers when they came through from the pots.
My children now all grow their own veg from garlic to butternut squash so we have gone into the more exotic veg since those days when I was growing mint and they have always been aware as to where fresh food comes from and enjoy making their own smoothies etc with the produce they grow.

We grow fruit and vegetables tables together. My son loves helping out watering, digging and picking it. His favorite it digging out the potatoes. It always makes him more keen to eat it if it comes from our own garden

We never grew anything as children but we were bought up as vegetarian for most of our childhood. When we moved house as a teenager my mum had an allotment and grew a lot of fruit and veg. She doesn’t have it anymore but does have apples and strawberries in her garden. Now as an adult we’ve got fruit trees and bushes in our garden. I think it’s great that my boys get to see the fruit growing on the trees. We also keep chickens so they know we’re ehga come from. It took a while for them to understand that chicken nuggets were made out of chicken though!

i dont have green fingers but my granny did so i am going to try this year to grow fruit

My family didn’t grow food when I was growing up but we have with ours. To be honest it didn’t make them want to sat it any more though - for example they prefer shop bought tomatoes to home grown ones. We have visited lots of farms and farm larks when they were younger. They are pretty good with their fruit and veg. My youngest is much better at trying new things.

My grandad grew the most amazing tomatoes- I was too young to appreciate them.

We talk a lot at home about where food comes from, and although we haven't been terribly successful at growing fruit and veg (although we do well from our raspberry canes) we do grow lots of herbs.

The thing that really seems to make the difference is letting little ones cook with us.

big beleiver in growing food with the kids - something reliable and easy like strawberry plants is great - you can even do in little pots if not space in garden.

We grew pak choi for first time last year and they were very resistant to pests. Courgettes also grow well and its amazing to see the kids faces when they see a courgette turn into a marrow!

Trickier things are things like lettuce which can quickly be slug eaten or caterpillar eaten and carrots have been a bit hit and miss.

Always fun to have a go though. Great to start seedlings off on windowsill to give them a good chance of success before planting out.

I love cooking and baking with all 3 of my children and I think it really helps with their food awareness. Moreover we forage for blackberries and bilberries, Grandpa grows rhubarb and neighbours grow apples, pears and plums, one neighbour has chickens and geese and a good friend has pigs. We regularly discuss the food that we eat and where it all comes from. We've had some tough conversations about animals vegetarianism and veganism. We all adore animals and have toyed with vegetarianism, but the children really struggled as they're still young and quite fussy. We're very open-minded and ultimately it will be their lifestyle choice as and when they are old enough and committed to a decision. I'm all for awareness and understanding, but essential health and wellbeing has to be first and foremost.

I grew veg with my mum. I most remember growing gourds, although they were not edible. I have grown potatoes in bags, from seed potatoes - very successful and great fun to tip the bag out and find all the potatoes. Also have grown pumpkins unsuccessfully - they went mouldy.

Did you ever grow food with your parents when you were younger?
Yes, we had a all kinds growing in our back garden. My dad made some raised beds in the back garden for us to plant loads of vegetables in. We had potatoes, lettuce, radish, peas, carrots, onions, cabbages.. we grew herbs as well. Can't beat new potatoes with mint! It was all delicious. On a Sunday, my mum would do big bags of veg for the neighbours and send me round with them. Same with tomatoes and cucumbers when they were in season. I have very fond memories of shelling peas out of their pods into a bowl (and straight into my mouth!) in the garden sunshine.
My Grandad also had an allotment. I remember being left in the greenhouse once while my Grandad and Dad picked cabbages. I pretty much cleared a whole tomato plant, sat there with a salt cellar picking one after the next. I think that's one of my fondest memories. I've never found a tomato as tasty as those. I'd love to know hoe he grew them. But I think the secret is good soil, plenty water and heat. The hotter in the greenhouse the better!

The biggest issue was always keeping the slugs and snails off! My dad used to use some little plastic cones pressed into the ground with a little bit of beer (he use to make his own of that too) poured in. It was always exciting to see what had been captured!

Do you grow your own fruit and/or veg with your children so they can see where it comes from?
I'd love to but we've not really got the room in the garden. I do buy plenty variety in fresh fruit and veg for my daughter and we talk about how it grows, and hopefully one day I'll be able to pass on the tradition! I've absolutely no problem getting her to eat her greens. Her favourite dinner is either a Sunday Roast or a Salad!

Did you ever grow food with your parents when you were younger?
Yes, tomatoes beans potatoes strawberries and apple and cherry trees

Do you grow your own fruit and/or veg with your children so they can see where it comes from?
Yes ever since they were toddlers we have tried all sorts of fruit and veg to grow at home.

If you do grow your own food, tell us what works and what doesn’t – and your tips and tricks for growing!
The kids just live watching tiny seeds grow into something. The especially enjoy growing pumpkins in time for halloween, some to decorate and some to cook with.
Early spring we start with lots of small pots on the windowsill with various seeds and transfer to the garden as the weather warms.
The kids also like taking tomato plants into school

We have grown tomatoes and cress indoors which my little one has eaten. We can't really grow fruit or veg outside unfortunately.

I am very lucky, my daughter will eat most fruit and vegatables.

My mum was always a keen gardener & would get me involved in preparing the ground & sewing seeds.
I remember going into the shed to fetch the box of seeds & being enchanted by these wonderful magic beans in envelopes & all the amazing things they might grow to be.. my imagination was thinking more beanstalk than marrow though!
We have allotments behind our house now & my dream is to have our own little plot & grow our own veg.
I am getting more into healthy living & have recently cut all refined sugar out of my diet - this means a lot more cooking from scratch & it would feel amazing to be doing this with veg we have grown ourselves.
A wholly rewarding experience & a really lovely process to share with my son.

sowing.. not sewing.. clearly outing myself as the novice gardener!

My dad always had a veg patch and still has a greenhouse. He's been growing grapes in it!

The boys appreciate our blueberry plant because I always make them muffins with the fruit. I always kept it in the yard by the back door, even though the garden was across the road, behind the garage. We've moved now and it's come with us, so I'm hoping it does as well in our new garden, this summer.

Growing up we tried (and failed) to grow our own fruit/vegetables but we moved around so often it was hard to keep it up. These days I do a lot of home cooking so I'm wanting to start growing my own herbs and once we buy a property our own vegetables too.

Perseverance. And smothering in cheese always helps...

Oh and we have an allotment where my two children have their own patch. My daughter will eat spinach she has grown but won't touch shop bought stuff!

DS has his own section of vegetable patch where he sometime grows veg of his choice although it's usually a "mud town" for his diggers.

We also have chickens which he loves collecting the eggs from every day, and try to get him cooking as much as possible!

I never grew food with my parents when I was growing up, but now that I have children I think it's great to do this with them. We've not long moved into a house with a tidy sized garden so we're looking forward to getting busy! We've got strawberries and sunflowers growing on our window sill, along with parsley, coriander and basil! The kids love it and it saves buying it! I also find the kids more receptive when it comes to eating it, if they've watched it grow and looked after it themselves.

As a child I grew up helping mum and Dad in the garden and planting different fruits and veg and picking them (or digging them up). My children and I do the same and we try to do something new each year as well, they love picking fresh fruit and veg for snacks or dinner. We also recently stayed on a farm for a family getaway and it was a working farm so they could see chickens, ducks, geese and cows, find out how they are looked after and what we farm them for. Kids loved it and found it so interesting. They went out each evening to 'help' the farmer would then also explain some things to them too- amazing experience for them and now they know where more of their food comes from and the work involved

My parents never grew anything with us when we little - but then again we lived in a two up, two down terrace with a cobbled yard...

I did grow potatoes and carrots in pots with mine when they were younger - so that they understood the planting, nurturing and reaping the rewards cycle. Best one ever though was when we nurtured a tomato plant indoors. Took ages and it only sprouted two tomatoes which my son was delighted about. Until we had visitors one day and my toddler saw her opportunity - stole both of them and ate them!

Have grown peas and herbs and berries but nothing more complicated than that. Don't feel I have the time any more.
Would love to grow more. Go blackberry picking in the autumn with DS3.