Mount Kisco Child Care Center (MKCCC), a non-profit providing nurturing support and equitable access to high quality childcare for working families in Westchester, has a program called Feed Me Fresh, which is their seed-to-table nutrition education curriculum. Dawn Meyerski, Executive Director of MKCCC, provided insight into this program, through an enlightening interview.
Dawn outlined the program’s commitment to teaching children about organic and whole natural foods, emphasizing how they incorporate them into their daily diet. MKCCC has set up gardens in the children’s playground, where they learn to grow and harvest their own vegetables. From planting to picking, cleaning, cooking, and eating what they have grown, the Feed Me Fresh program is flourishing. The aim of this program is to not only feed the children well, but to teach them where their food comes from.
To help the children find interest in eating healthy foods, MKCCC incorporates cooking activities into their lunch period. For example, the children have learned to make spinach and cous cous from scratch. This program has allowed children at a young age to get connected to and build a love for vegetables and natural foods. They have found children are willingly trying broccoli or spinach, foods typically challenging for younglings to eat, when they grow them and put them into recipes. Dawn remarked, “Although not all children would rather eat kale than cookies, most of them enjoy the kale!”
The Feed Me Fresh curriculum was inspired by Alice Waters, a woman who ran a food service in California using edible schoolyards. Initially, MKCCC was skeptical about adopting this program, but in 2002, after moving to a new building they implemented garden beds and began their journey to mirror the service in California.
Over the years, Susan Rubin, the farm educator at MKCCC, brought a similar seed-to-table program to the Mount Kisco Elementary School. Dawn added that MKCCC school age children had a “higher food IQ” because of the program in the preschool. These children stand out where they are more knowledgeable about growing different vegetables and crops, as well as being passionate about eating fresh vegetables.
In the summer months, MKCCC summer campers, which range in age from kindergarten to fifth grade, work in their own playground gardens and grow any crops of their choice. They also manage their own farmers’ market, selling their fresh produce on the front porch of MKCCC. This program not only teaches children about nutrition and eating healthy but also helps them learn to market and research prices for their products. The money the children earn is split: half goes back to expanding their gardens, and the other half is donated to a charity of the campers’ choice, teaching the children the importance of giving back to the community. Donations have been made to the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, NY, the Mount Kisco Food Pantry, and a Louisiana strawberry farmer who lost his crops due to weather conditions.
The children’s favorite crop to grow is the three sisters’ garden: corn, beans and squash. In this garden, the three plants work together and grow around each other. The crop symbolizes cooperation, and the children learn valuable skills in teamwork, both in the gardens and the kitchen.
“While we live in a world where anything is accessible in 30 seconds, the children learn about patience and gratitude as they wait for their gardens to prosper. They learn to manage their frustration and slow down, understanding that not every plant grows. These children learn the natural process and cycle of growth, realizing that you can’t make a carrot grow any faster than a carrot grows.” Dawn explains that this hands-on program teaches the children to “not be afraid to eat spinach.” MKCCC has high hopes for the future of the program and are looking to maintain and expand it.
