Farm Horizons
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June 6, 2016
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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
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Planting
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Trucks Available
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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