Farm Horizons Farm Horizons 6/16 | Page 12

Farm Horizons • June 6, 2016 • Page 12 Four-Square for Childcare in Wright County By Gabe Licht Toddlers smile as they play in the dirt. In reality, they’re not playing; they’re planting. The hope is they’ll try the fresh produce they grow. That’s the focus of the Four-Square for Childcare Project currently underway at 14 family childcare locations in Wright County. The project – part of a Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP) grant – is overseen by Susan DeMars, health promotion coordinator with Wright County Public Health. Some goals of the grant include focuses on community, healthy eating, and active living. “That’s where childcare comes in under those three categories,” DeMars said. “We work with childcare providers in helping them offer more fresh food and more active play. That’s where I come in.” Each participating daycare received $300 in equipment, with $150 paying for a terrace and one 4-foot-by4-foot raised garden bed filled with soil, and an additional $150 in garden equipment. “To get the $300, they had to do four hours of training and develop a policy statement relating to offering more fresh vegetables,” DeMars said. “ . . . We taught childcare providers about various topics, such as planting, harvesting, how to work with children in a garden, and garden safety.” The project began months before gardening season. “In January, we did ‘throw-in-the-snow gardens,’” DeMars said. Those gardens started with milk cartons that were cut in half. Children then filled the bottom portion with soil and seeds. They taped the top portion back onto the carton, punched holes in it, and threw it in the snow. “Seedlings come up as soon as it gets warm enough,” DeMars said. “They could transplant them. They grew beets, peas, carrots, just for kids to get excited and see something growing in the winter.” Later on, children created seedling pots by folding a piece of newspaper into a decomposable pot. They placed soil and seeds into the pot, which could be placed in a garden at home. Once planting season arrived, the daycares received their gardens. String is used to divide the gardens into 16 square-foot sections, allowing for up to 16 different types of plants. rms Operations, Inc. Otto Fa Combining w/Stalk Chopping Heads Baling (3x3x8) Disk Ripping Grain Swathing Grain Hauling Spring Tillage Planting Brillion Packer Rental Manure Pumping Chopping • Filling Bags, Bunkers, Silos Front & Rear Unload Trucks Available Packing Available Mayer Lumber Co. IN BUSINESS SINCE 1938 Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily; Sat. 8 a.m. to 12 noon 201 Ash Ave. (Hwy. 25), Mayer, (952) 657-2291 Greg & Heidi Otto (320) 485-3368 Cell (320) 510-0468 20243 County Rd 9, Lester Prairie, MN 55354