Does getting kids to have fun eating vegetables and pulling weeds sound like a cruel joke to you? Not to Emergency Food Network­, which will host Youth Days at its Mother Earth Farm Aug. 16. Participants will take an edible tour, participate in a farm scavenger hunt and volunteer weeding project for the second and final event of the
summer.

Emergency Food Network’s Youth Days presents an opportunity for youths age 8-15 to gain awareness of local hunger issues while engaging in a fun, half-day, outdoor experience at its Mother Earth Farm in the Puyallup Valley. The 8-acre organic farm provides fresh fruit, vegetables and honey to Pierce County food banks.

“In a nation of supermarkets, Mother Earth Farm can be a reminder that not everyone has access to fresh fruit and vegetables,” Helen McGovern-Pilant, executive director for Emergency Food Network says. “We want to illustrate to the younger generation how even they can help to provide access to organic, fresh, locally grown produce to others.”

Fresh fruit and vegetables, which seem like basic staples, are much harder, if not impossible, for many food-insecure families in Pierce County to attain, McGovern-Pilant says. With its Mother Earth Farm, Emergency Food Network produces more than 150,000 pounds of organic food, available to food banks the same day harvested.

Mother Earth Farm’s assistant farm manager, Anika Moran, leads Youth Days, informing participants of organic agricultural principles and how the farm operates with biological and mechanical processes that recycle resources and promote a healthy ecological environment. Moran guides youth on an edible tour of the farm, letting them taste rhubarb, collared greens, basil and other produce grown at the farm.

“Even veggies like collared greens become appealing or fascinating to kids when they pull them straight from the ground,” Moran says. “It’s important to show kids how produce is grown, and that fruit and vegetables aren’t just boring grocery store products mom brings home in plastic bags.”

After the edible tour, youth participate in a scavenger hunt for items found at the farm, finding items such as a home for insects or three types of weeds. They also take part in a weeding project where they pull and identify various types of weeds.

“We show them weeding can be fun when you’re doing it for other people,” Moran says. “They know the produce they help harvest is going to hungry families.”

For more information, visit www.efoodnet.org and click on the events page, or email volunteer@efoodnet.org.