For the love of vegetables

Farm To Preschool aims to educate low-income families about fresh produce; Event at Crossroads Farm October 26th

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It’s hard enough to get children to eat vegetables, let alone take an interest in the growing and nutritional benefits of fresh farm produce.

That’s the mission, however, of Farm To Preschool, a program run by the Child Care Council of Nassau, Inc., and funded by the New York State Department of Health, to rid harvested food of its bad rap among the juvenile set. It’s also the goal of a Farm To Preschool celebration for kids and adults at Malverne’s Crossroads Farm this Sunday at 4 p.m.

To take on the herculean task of promoting produce to youngsters, Farm To Preschool began bringing farmers markets, cooking demonstrations, gardening and nutritional tips to low-income child care centers in Nassau County last year. “We selected three child care centers to participate in the program,” said Dana Youkilis, a FarmToPreschool nutritionist. “These centers had to have over 40 percent of [their] children come from low-income families who receive food benefits from the state. These are people who might not have easy access to great fruit and vegetables, so we make the produce easily accessible by bringing farmers markets to their children’s day care centers.”

Day care centers that currently benefit from Farm To Preschool include the Children’s Nest, in Merrick, which hosts a farmers market from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays; the Anna House in Elmont, which has one on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; and the Young Achievers Learning Experience, or YALE, in Hempstead, where food sellers gather on Tuesdays from 3 to 6 p.m.

On a sunny afternoon last week, Youkilis — the only full-time employee of the program, which is based in Franklin Square — cooked up a batch of quinoa with raisins, sunflower seeds and honey outside the Children’s Nest. A representative from the Goodale Farm, in Riverhead, was busy selling produce to the parents who came to pick up their children from day care.

“The children help grow their own small gardens at these child care centers as well,” Youkilis said. Though the gardens are modest, the children get involved in creating, and enjoying, their own freshly grown produce.

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