Kids on the Farm:
A Harvest Party Report

We consider last Sunday’s Harvest party and Pumpkin Pick to be a resounding success! Yes, it drizzled a bit, but it didn’t dampen the spirits of the 80 or so folks who showed up to enjoy great potluck food and tour the farm. The two harvest wagons were full, but not dangerously so, until we loaded them with pumpkins. But that’s getting ahead of the story!

First stop on the farm tour was in the sweet potatoes field. Not many Midwesterners have seen sweet potatoes growing, much less have experienced pulling them right out of the soil. But, before you can pull, you have to cut and remove the tropical-looking vines. Then tear away the plastic covering the bed and carefully dig with a garden fork, keeping it well away from where you can see the tips of the potatoes poking up through the dirt. As I pry gently, exposing the bunch of tubers, oohs and aahs can be heard all around from the kids.

The striking similarity between a bunch of bananas and a bunch of sweet potatoes is commented on. Indeed, in banana-like fashion, they grow in a cluster, down into the soil under the main stem of the vine. They come in all sizes and even some weird shapes, but every one of them gets snatched out of the moist soil by eager little hands. When every child, and several adults, have a couple to take home, we move on to the carrots.

Carrots generally can’t be coaxed out of the ground without the aid of a garden fork, but the broad shouldered, stubby yellow ones, with the thick thatch of lacy tops, cooperated! Kids were pulling them right and left, surprised at the new color and mild, sweet flavor. That’s right, what’s a little dirt when you can pick and enjoy right on the spot. More than one child was spotted with a smudge of dirt by their lips, munching happily away!

It was here in the carrot field that the kids captured my attention. In our modern world of electronic video games, fast-paced TV and general sensory overload, how amazing to see pure joy and a sense of accomplishment come over the young faces when a carrot lets go its grip on the earth, revealing shape and size. How can a simple carrot become a prized jewel, a bringer of joy? I like to think it is some ancient bond with the earth and growing things that has awakened in the children.

In our modern world of fast-paced TV and general sensory overload, how amazing to see pure joy and a sense of accomplishment come over the young faces when a carrot lets go its grip on the earth, revealing shape and size. How can a simple carrot become a prized jewel, a bringer of joy? I like to think it is some ancient bond with the earth and growing things that has awakened in the children.

The tour continues. On we go to the beets--gold beets, chioggia beets, red beets--more jewels, and even easier to pull. Before we board the wagons someone mentions the lemongrass. Now, that’s a challenge! Even though it grows above ground, it is more likely to release its heavenly aroma than release its roots. After a wrestling match, a few lucky souls tote lush, fragrant bundles back to the wagon.

Aboard the covered harvest wagons, out of the misty air, we wind our way past fields of broccoli, kale and parsley, and stop in the tomato patch. Now, after weeks of picking, the tidy aisles of straw are littered with tomatoes that will never become a BLT or a rich sauce. A little sunburn, a water-induced crack or some other blemish relegated them to eventually become compost. Nevertheless, there are lots of delicious tomatoes still left on the newest vines. Green zebras, Georgia streaks, grape tomatoes and even a row of the tomato cousin, cape gooseberries, are hits. Though we never plant a full row, and they never produce many fruits, we keep growing cape gooseberries, which resemble overgrown ground cherries. Maybe we grow them just for the fun of seeing folks peel back their papery “capes” and taste their exotic, citrusy tang for the first time!

Finally we trek to the pumpkin patch. There are hundreds of pumpkins to pick from. One after another they are chosen, cut from the vine and set next to the road. As the wagon passes, the pumpkins are handed up. Soon the wagons can hold no more and the supply boxes on the front of the tractors and the back of the wagons are heaping, as well.

We trundle home to the greenhouse where all hoses are employed to wash the pumpkins clean. Hoses are nearly as much fun as picking vegetables. Though there were some very wet kids, the washing didn’t stop until all the future jack o’ lanterns were shiny and beautiful.

Cars and families head out, loaded with various veggies and, of course, the perfect pumpkins. Little Vivian, however, wasn’t quite ready. She wanted to see the horses. We conducted an impromptu windfall apple hunt, nearly as much fun as an Easter Egg hunt, and went to feed the greedy beasts. Tiny hands, held flat and balancing apples, stretched up to the giant, soft noses and lips. Just as the horse reached out, the hand pulled back! Kinda scary! “Try again and, this time don’t flinch.” Eventually, the kids got so good at it that the horses were drooling apple cider. Neither the kids, nor the horses, wanted to quit!

So, when we flop into chairs at the end of the long, visitor-filled Sunday, are we wondering why we take our one day off in an 80 hour work week to hold the Harvest Party? Not at all! It’s the kids! (okay, the adult kids, too!) We like to think that eating out of the box, seeing it grow in the field, and pulling it out of the ground or off the vine, forever changes how a person thinks about food. CSA kids eat healthier foods, maybe, we believe, with habits ingrained for a lifetime.

-- Richard and Linda