Partnering for Healthy Kids

Edible Education Experience is proud of its continued partnership with Florida Hospital’s Center for Child and Family Wellness.  The partnership is in its 6th year and we look forward to the Center’s monthly visit to the Emeril Lagasse Foundation Culinary Garden for Sunday morning gardening where young clients and their families plant and harvest alongside their doctor and team of experts.

The team is led by Angela Fals, MD who is a board-certified pediatrician physician. As Medical Director of Florida Hospital for Children’s Pediatric Weight and Wellness Program, she oversees pediatric weight management programs aimed at helping kids live to a long and healthy life through beneficial lifestyle choices and changes. As founder of the Center for Child and Family Wellness, she works hand-in-hand with experts in nutrition, exercise and child psychology to help children and adolescents effectively manage their weight, avoid a lifetime of obesity and make healthy choices that will benefit their self-esteem and overall health through adulthood.

Quote from one excited attendee, “Gardening is more fun than roller skating!”

Seeds into Soil

And so we begin. We believe that getting seeds into soil is fundamental to a great gardening experience so we don't waste any time in beginning the gardening school year this way. Some seeds we put directly into the ground and some we put into pots of soil. If the seed is large and makes a large sprout we usually put those right in the ground. If the seed is tiny and makes a little sprout sometimes it's easier to plant them in pots and wait a few weeks for them to grow before we transplant them into the garden. (it's easier to protect and care for tiny seedlings when they are in pots) Most of what we are planting will last through winter here and any frost that may come our way. We also have a few months to grow some warm weather crops like beans so we will plant those also.

Summer Edible Ed for Kids

Imagine 20 kids from Boys & Girls Club, touring the Orlando Junior Academy gardens while sipping on watermelon-mint-lime smoothies and you’ll get a sense of what took place, June 24, when Adventist University partnered with Edible Education Experience.

The kids spent two hours on the OJA campus which included a hands-on cooking experience involving egg cracking and selecting garden fresh herbs as ingredients for an individual, freshly cooked, egg omelette. The garden tour was led by Brad Jones and cooking was led by Chef/Teacher Allyson Schurig, both who volunteered their time and expertise.

The kids were fun and appreciative and impressed the adult leaders with some of their cooking skills and poignant questions. One of the girls, having learned from her dad on ‘How to crack an egg’, assumed the role of teaching her peers and there was a lively discussion over the different naturally-colored eggs that had been locally sourced.

Endearing quotes of the day were: “Are you trying to kill us!?!” (boy’s exclamation upon seeing fresh mint leaves floating in the water dispenser) and, “I like this! I’m going to tell my mom to add grass to our watermelon.” (another boy’s excitement after tasting cubed watermelon with chopped mint).

To learn more about Boys & Girls Club of Central Florida visit: www.bgccf.org
For more Edible Education Experience information go to:  www.EdibleEd.org and check-out Facebook - EdibleEducationExperience or Instagram EdibleEdExp. Send inquiries to info@EdibleEd.org.