Dig in

Kelli Rodda

I watched a video recently about Will Allen, founder of Growing Power, a national nonprofit organization and land trust headquartered in Milwaukee. Growing Power provides access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities. His simple, yet powerful, philosophy: “To grow food, to grow minds, and to grow community.” Get some inspiration at www.growingpower.org.

In the video, there’s a steady stream of neighborhood children coming to the farm to learn about growing food, help plant, harvest food and feed the farm’s animals. I can’t describe the wonderment that radiates on their faces – you have to watch it and see for yourself. See it here: http://bit.ly/1Q3XscP

In it he makes a fascinating observation: “Kids that come in here, they’re wired and they’re bouncing off the walls. But as soon as I put some soil in their hands, they just calm down. There’s something very spiritual about touching the soil.”

It gave me goosebumps.

While he’s connecting with these children primarily through edibles, there’s still an opportunity to incorporate ornamentals into these types of lessons. If you hear about a community or school garden and all that’s discussed is food crops, don’t walk away, get involved anyway. Offer to donate some supplies. Ask the organizers if they’ll consider some ornamentals in the garden plan. Think: pollinator plants; big, bold colorful flowers; plants with unusual textures; varieties that feed birds and other wildlife. See if your employees will join you in volunteering.

The industry talks a lot about marketing to the different generations. In fact, we’ll cover the topic in our October issue. However, we can easily turn our attention to marketing to children, whether they live in a dense urban setting or in wide-open spaces. Get into schools, churches and daycares. Discuss plants and where they come from, as well as why they’re so important. Host a field day to your nursery. Let them play in the dirt. You may stir something in them that starts a green revolution.