Dear Children: Not all food comes from the grocery stores.

I think it's wonderful when kids learn where real food comes from; that is, when they engage in projects of picking and home-processing produce.  I therefore enjoyed seeing the facebook blog from my niece, Michelle Chung, where her children visited an orchard, picked apples and made applesauce at home.  And when I read the following excerpt from Michelle's post, I know the lessons learned here will be life-long and invaluable to this child:

Today, Morgan was my helper and did everything from washing apples, pressing them in the Sauce Master and ladling the hot jars.

The Chung Children, and a friend, ready to pick apples.

Annika Chung saucing apples.

Mae's Strawberry Jam

I loved hearing that my niece's little girl Mae Schmit, age 7, is already learning to can.  She made strawberry jam and here are her instructions for it.
"Cut the strawberries into, like, little cutouts; and then put them in two batches of water.  Then dump the water out and keep the strawberries in there.  Then put two teaspoons of sugar in and then put it in the microwave.  Then put one more cup of sugar in.  Then you're all done and then you mix it and put it in the jar."
And here's the results:

Mae and her homemade jam

The Child Garden

From author Richard Louv (Last Child in the Woods):

In nature, a child finds freedom, fantasy, and privacy: a place distant from the adult world, a separate peace.

and

The disconnect between children and the natural world may be one of the most radical and least healthy developments in recent history. 

It's not too late to let your child(ren) start their own little garden patch.  Learning to grow their own food will give them rewards they'll reap for a lifetime.  The pride they have for their own garden shows in their excitement at seeing the first of their plantings peek through the soil.  I've heard many a gardener say they detested pulling weeds in their parents' gardens, but their own little garden was dutifully kept weed free!
There's a meaningful experience for the child with their own garden:  sowing the seeds, the seasons, insects--ally and pest, soil care and watering, ripening and harvest and finally, the pleasure and freedom of putting together a meal or dish with food from their own garden.
At the very least, take them to the farmer's markets and let them select, prepare and present the food. 
There's hardly a more important life lesson than a child's understanding of the connection:  from the earth to their supper plate.
Up close, children seem transfixed by the beauty of nature--

Grandniece Aubrey McCaleb picking Grandma's raspberries.

Grandnephew Erik Chung picking peaches at an orchard.

Teaching young children to crack an egg

Cracking an egg successfully can be somewhat challenging to a young child.  I've often seen them emit a deep sigh before beginning and then focus intently, hoping for anything but a crushed egg. Below are some helpful tips.  My friend, Kevin Jheng, will help me demonstrate.

Introduce them to the correct motion by having them practice opening a hinge.

Fingers/Thumbs placed as above, open hinge fully

Thumbs placed along crack of egg, open like hinge

Whoops!--try again

Success!

Getting Kids Started in the Kitchen

Encourage children in the kitchen as soon as they are able to imitate motions or activities that you are doing--usually between two and three years old. 

Early-age activities could include:
-shaking sugar, cinnamon or cocoa from a sprinkle-top jar
-inserting toothpicks in melon or pineapple chunks and arranging on a plate
-picking grapes from the stem and putting in a bowl
-pulling the string on the salad spinner to dry greens
-hulling strawberries
-using a melon baller with soft cantalope or small melon
-leveling off the ingredients for you on your measuring cup
-juicing a lemon or orange with a hand juicer
-peeling and grating veggies
-slicing cheese with a cheese slicer
-roll out small balls of pie crust dough, cookie dough, bread dough
-cut wedge shapes with pizza cutter, or pastry cutter

Below are some of the utensils a preschool child should be able to handle at some point.  Yes, you do see a small paring knife; but note the child-size gardening gloves adjacent to it.  With the gloves on, the child will not get cut using a small knife, especially given that they apply a lighter pressure than an adult when using these tools.  I gave my daughter her first knife and gloves when she was three; and as an adult, she still talks of how special her first knife was to her.  (She's now a chef)

Engage children in food preparation tasks that are required for making meals from scratch.  If they want to make a salad, have them wash the lettuce, peel the carrots, etc; using fresh garden produce (not peeled, cut and prepackaged items) .  Use smaller produce that is appropriate for their skills.  Have them slicing green onions, versus larger onions; use plum and cherry tomatoes, versus slicing large tomatoes; use thinner and shorter carrots for slicing,  peel or grate carrots, versus chopping a carrot.

Most importantly, let children decide what they want to make and how they want it to look like.  Let them create and experiment.  Do not hover and force a right or wrong way (unless necessary--like if they are using salt when recipe calls for sugar)  Children absolutely swell with pride when they can contribute to a meal--"Kalyn's salad tonight"!  "Mae fixed dessert for us"!

Think of this; if you child starts at three and learns one thing per week about how to prepare food, use utensils, correct kitchen terms, etc; then by the time they start school, they will know at least 100 kitchen tasks for preparing their own food.  Their interest and confidence in food prep will be life-long.

For more posts on Kids In The Kitchen, see list of preserving diary posts under "Kids Kitchen"