Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Education of a Farmer: Welcome to Health Barn


At FNCE this past fall, the annual conference for dietitians, I got to meet Stacey Antine, founder of HealthBarn USA. I learned about her awesome business that gets kids digging in the dirt and excited about vegetables and couldn't wait to visit. This past week I was in NYC and got to spend the day on the farm with Stacey, her great staff and many enthusiastic kiddos.

Stacey has also been on the Rachel Ray show - pretty stinkin' cool, huh? Check her out:


Stacey rents space on a working farm in New Jersey. There is a large garden that the kids work in - each permanent bed is surrounded by stones that help remind little feet to stay on the mulched paths. There isn't too much growing yet, but the visitors to the farm were able to dig in the compost pile and taste mint and sorrel (an awesome leafy green that tastes like lemon). After the gardening adventure, the kids went to the kitchen to help make a swirly fruit smoothie and then to the farm store to be a supermarket spy.


Fresh mint!
If you'd like to visit the farm or enroll your kiddo in camp, check out the HealthBarn website. You can also welcome Stacey to your school for an assembly that the kids will love.

Stacey's programs are the complete health package - growing good food, cooking and eating it. Kids eat what they grow! It was great to visit the farm and to learn more about what dietitians are doing outside of the traditional hospital setting.

Reader poll: What is your favorite leafy green?

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