It's Cool to Be Corny

Today the kids and I volunteered at local elementary school for the first time doing "taste tables." The program is sponsored through the Corvallis Environmental Agency, and it is awesome. Basically, once a month, through the help of volunteers, each elementary serves a new produce during lunch grown by a local farmer. The whole idea is to get the kids excited about trying new foods and to teach them about where our food comes from, and I saw today how peer pressure can be a positive thing. Kids who wouldn't try the corn on the cob today eventually came back after they saw that all of their friends were trying and enjoying it. Corn is definitely an easier veggie to get kids to try than some, but I was amazed at how much all of the kids liked it. Kids were eating so much and wanting more and more, so they eventually had to tell the kids no more and that they had to go to recess. The best part is how excited Sofia was about helping. She wanted to make signs and look the part of the veggie and felt so cool when she was complimented on her attire, and she was soooo into helping pass the food out to the big kids. Next months pick is apples, and she is already scheming what she will wear. Gabe was not so into helping, but he just sat on the floor the whole time eating corn and looking at books. We will keep doing this at least until the baby is born, but what a great experience for the whole familia.