“I wanted them to take away something they could use in their lives.”

Isn’t that the goal of education? From the time our children are padding along behind us imitating our every move until the day they move out, we have an awesome opportunity to provide our children with tools for their lives. What are we teaching them when we don’t “have time” for real food preparation…when we can plunk down $100 a month for TV but complain about the price of pastured eggs…when we buy into a system of food cultivation, preparation and delivery that exploits people, taints food and encourages disease because it’s fast and cheap?

I applaud this professor, he’s a real Food Renegade. But let’s not wait until our children are in college for someone else to teach them what we can do at home. Let’s get preschoolers learning about plants by sprouting; first graders combining flavors by making salad; second graders investigating the bugs in the garden; fourth graders bettering their breakfast by scrambling eggs; fifth graders learning fractions by up and down scaling recipes; sixth graders learning about elements, compounds and mixtures by squishing meatloaf; seventh graders learning different world cultures through their traditional foods and preparation; eighth graders studying chemical reactions by baking bread. Let’s get children writing their own cookbooks full of their favorite meals with traditional food prep instructions. Let’s teach them that food can be both slow and fast when prepared at home, like oatmeal: slow from overnight soaking, fast to cook in the morning.

What if we invested our time and attention in our children in the kitchen instead of shooing them out? What if, through the process of meal planning, preparation and forethought, our children learned something other than the hurry-up-and-eat-whatever instant gratification of microwave meals? What parts of their lives would be touched and changed by the overflow?

This post is part of Fight Back Friday, hosted by Food Renegade.

I couldn’t tear them away. Rose, now 9 and Christy, now 12 were glued to the TV, and asked for frequent note-taking breaks. They understood a lot more than I thought they would. But the real impact was felt by Kate, my animal lover. She was horrified, angered, frustrated, flustered and moved to tears several times throughout the film. I’ve offered all three girls space on this blog should they decide to vent some of their feelings in writing.

My oldest child still at home wasn’t with us for the viewing, but tonight at dinner she sure got an earful! I see that Kate has also put a note on her Facebook page: “Wow. It is not a pretty movie, but it is important. I have learned so much from this and what is going on that we don’t know about, just… wow.”

I was worried that she would be very, very upset by what she saw, so I checked in with her one-on-one. She said no, she was so glad she saw it, because as hard as it was to watch, now she knows why I’ve been making some of the strange decisions I’ve made lately. She has already sent notes around to her friends recommending they see it.

Her next film assignment will be FRESH, because I very much want her to see the positive that can be done once we know what we are up against, a message FRESH delivers very well.

Because of the kill floor scenes and the discussion with the mother who lost a son to e. Coli, I don’t generally recommend this movie for children or pre-teens. But, it’s important to know your child and make those decisions the best you can. And no matter what age child is viewing, discussion at each of the section breaks is something that can break down the larger issues into more understandable chunks. I also found some wonderful talking points at the Food Inc. site’s Educational Materials section.

But do watch and discuss this movie with your older kids. All that youthful exuberance is looking for an outlet: a cause on which to hang their hat. What a great thing to be motivated about!

Sprouting is easy enough for children. There is much to be learned about seeds and sprouts. Here is a great vocabulary sheet to use for the proper terminology.

Sprouts are full of enzymes that aid your digestion, making them a valuable addition to meals. There are frequent recalls of grocery store sprouts, but they are so easy to make at home you don’t need to rely on storebought. And with numerous varieties of grains and legumes to sprout, the flavors vary from sweet to mildly peppery.

You might not have access to locally grown, organic greens in winter, but sprouts can fill that hole in your diet quite nicely. And if Rose can do it, so can you!

Sprouting For Kids

This post is part of Prevention Not Prescriptions and Real Food Wednesday blog carnivals.

Working in the kitchen is a great place to learn age and capability-appropriate tasks. You might have more of a mess cleaning up after, but imagine the pride on your four-year-old’s face when he tells Grandma that he made the cornbread. Sure, he only poured in your pre-measured ingredients and helped stir, but it was “his” cornbread. You’d better believe he’ll eat it, too!

Making sprouts is something we have done for years, and it’s one of the kids’ favorite first jobs. Here’s a photo essay featuring Rose. She can do this job all on her own now. I just say, “Rose, would you please start a cup of wheat (or red beans, or whatever) sprouting?” and she’s off! (We use this same process for sprouting beans, but use gallon jars instead of quart-sized.)

First, she assembles the ingredients she will need: grain or beans to sprout, a scoop to get them into the jar, a mason jar, a square of cheesecloth large enough to fit over the jar’s mouth, and water. Today’s starts are wheat berries.

Needed supplies

She pours the wheat into the jar,

Wheat berries into jar

puts on the cheesecloth

Cheesecloth on

and the lid,

Screw on that lid

fills the jar with water, and puts away all her tools.

We only use "good" water for the initial soak.

The next morning, she pours off the soaking water (if we have houseplants, I use the soaking water to water them because the water is full of nutrients)

Pour off the water

and rinses the sprouts in lukewarm water. The idea is to simulate a warm, spring rain. This water gets poured off as well.

Rinse the sprouts

Then she sets the jar on its side and covers it with a towel, simulating the dark of being “planted” for the seeds.

"Planting" the sprouts

She will do this every morning and evening until the sprouts are as long as the seed or bean that is being sprouted. Once the sprouts reach this point, we decide what to do with them. We can steam them lightly and add to soups or salads. Part of this batch will be put in a bowl on top of we paper towels in the sun to turn green. Wheatgrass is a nutritious juice and is enjoyed whole by cats, dogs, rabbits and guinea pigs.

Sprouts before, and after 3 days in the sun

The rest of our batch this time will be dried in the oven and ground for flour. Rose covers a cookie sheet with unbleached parchment paper,

pulls the sprouts out of the jar,

Out, darned sprouts!

and spreads them evenly.

They will sit in a warm oven (150° or less, to preserve enzyme content) for about 12 hours before I put them through my mill.

That’s all there is to it!

This post is part of Prevention Not Prescriptions and Real Food Wednesday blog carnivals.