Cherokee Nation’s Learn to Grow Program hosts first children’s farmers market | Food Production and Preservation | Forums

what an awesome program

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Cherokee Nation’s Learn to Grow Program, which teaches children to garden and raise their own vegetables, yielded enough produce for the first ever children’s farmers market in Vinita recently.

More than 115 children who attend child care centers that offer the program through the Cherokee Nation in six counties helped at the market by running their own produce stands. They sold tomatoes, corn, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers and bell peppers to farmers and families for “veggie bucks.”

The farmers market was held at the Vinita Health Center.

“This is a great experience for the kids who have participated because they planted, grew, harvested and finally distributed these fresh fruits and vegetables. Feeling that ownership of the food source will resonate with them and so will the larger message of healthy consumption,” said Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. “One critical point that we are trying to impart to our youth through the community garden program is the importance of eating nutritious foods, especially those that are culturally significant to the Cherokee people.”

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