Archives

Let Them Grow: Garden Herbs

Working with herbs and spices help children make the connection between farm and table, or in our case front yard and table. Making these connections early on is a great way to lay the road for healthy and experimental eating. To really teach the concept of garden to table, encourage your child to taste, smell and feel the herbs. Let them play with them, rip them, crush them and explore them. Make a beautiful gift or store the herbs for later use.

Category: Candice Chouinard, Contributing Writer Tags: benefits of gardening with children, garden, garden based learning, gardening, Sense of Place

Playing with a Purpose: Gardening with your Children

Using the seasons as a catalyst for learning can help connect kids to their environment and the seasonal cycles of their community. Garden-based learning is just one activity that is on many minds every spring. Stop and think what else cycles around each year and how you can use it as a point of entry to community-based education. Then take advantage of your local resources, following your interests and education through community engagement.

Category: Hampden County, Hilltown Families, Nature Based Education, Suggested Activity Tags: benefits of gardening with children, Community Based Education, garden, garden based learning, gardening, Sense of Place

Hilltown Families on Mass Appeal: Resources that Support Garden-Based Learning

This month on Mass Appeal, Hilltown Families’ Founder & Executive Director, Sienna Wildfield, joins Mass Appeal host, Ashley Kohl, to talk about ways to engage in your community while supporting the interests and education of your children (and yourselves!) through garden-based activities.

Category: Community Based Education, Mass Appeal, Suggested Activity Tags: 22News, 22News Mass Appeal, benefits of gardening with children, Community Based Education, Community Gardens, garden, Mass Appeal, Sense of Place

HHuGE Wagon Update: New Hours & Volunteer Opportunity

HHuGE Wagon Hours Are Changing! By HHuGE Coordinator, Janet Henderson Hi! I am Janet Henderson, the new Hilltown Home Garden Exchange (HHuGE) Wagon coordinator, and I am writing to let you know that, because the produce in the wagon is not lasting in this heat (and other issues), the hours the wagon is open are changing. The new hours are: Fridays from 5pm-8pm Saturday from 9am-8pm If you have extra produce to… Read More

Category: Cummington, Eating’s Not Optional, Food, Volunteer Opportunity Tags: Berkshires, Food Security, garden, Garden Wagon, Hilltown Home Garden Exchange, Hilltowns, Local Food, Pilot Program, Pioneer Valley, Sustainability, western massachusetts

Grow a Rainbow with Your Kids!

Grow a Rainbow with Your Kids! It’s widely known that kids need to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. But how do you make this fun and engaging for them? “Grow a vegetable garden,” says Sarah Pounders, educational specialist at NGA. “Gardens motivate children to try new fruits and vegetables. Kids are eager to taste the fruits of their labor and quickly learn that those healthy foods are tasty, too. Eating fruits… Read More

Category: Food, Suggested Activity Tags: garden, gardening

Update on Hilltown Home Garden Exchange (HHuGE)

Update on Hilltown Home Garden Exchange (HHuGE) By HHuGE Coordinator, Kathy McMahon WHAT IS HHuGE? In a nutshell Bringing family gardeners together to donate their excess bounty – in trade or just to help local families in need. Nature is abundant, just not evenly distributed. Sharing fresh, wholesome produce is the neighborly thing to do! UPDATES: A few quick updates about the happenings with HHuGE Our Grand Opening is Monday, July 20,… Read More

Category: Food, Hilltown Families, Suggested Activity, Sustainability Tags: Food Security, garden, Garden Wagon, Hilltown Home Garden Exchange, Hilltowns, Pilot Program, Sustainability, western massachusetts

Hilltown Home Garden Exchange (HHuGE) Wagon Opens July 20th!

Share the Abundance of the Hilltowns! Introducing Hilltown Home Garden Exchange (HHuGE) Wagon opens July 20th, 2009 at the Old Creamery in Cummington, MA. BRING YE! BRING YE! Your carrots and tomatoes, your bountiful harvest, yearning to circulate with other plump produce! TAKE YE! TAKE YE! That which ye will eat, and rejoice with us as we GIVE and TAKE without charge, with the open neighborly spirit our Hilltowns are known for…. Read More

Category: Cummington, Family, Food, Local Food, Nutrition, Resources, Suggested Activity, Sustainability, Take Action, Volunteer Opportunity Tags: Food Security, garden, gardening, Hilltown Food Pantry, Loaves and Fishes, The Old Creamery

Hilltown Families’ Kids Invited to March in Chesterfield’s 4th of July Parade

Kathy McMahon of Cummington, MA writes: We are going to be in the CHESTERFIELD 4TH OF JULY PARADE! We invite all the little vegetables and fruits in our Hilltowns to show up to announce (and not to squash!) the opening of HHuGE! (Hilltown Home (united) Garden Exchange! Don’t ‘veg out!’ Don’t find yourself in a pickle, dress like one! March and wave with us as we parade along handing out baby carrots,… Read More

Category: 4th of July Parade, Chesterfield, Food, Holidays, Parades Tags: Food Security, garden, gardening

Share Your Family Gardening Tips

How Does Your (Child’s) Garden Grow? This is the first year our family will have a “family garden” where our daughter can have her very own little plot of dirt for digging and planting. She’s very excited and already very proud of the row of sprouting beet and zinnia seeds she has planted. Anyone else have or planning on having a space for your kids to garden? What are your plans or… Read More