Farmer’s Markets and the “Cost of a Chicken”

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We love this time of year and all it brings: farmers markets, CSAs

(community supported agriculture), an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables in the grocery store, at farmers stands, and everywhere we seem to look! The opportunity to eat “fresh” heightens our sense of smell, taste and feel and reminds us how good fresh food really is.

So, grab the kids in your life and the next time they comment on how “juicy” that strawberry is, or how they love “green” things from your herb garden, ask them where they think that strawberry comes from and how it is that we can eat these things in the winter too? As a tool and aid, sit down and watch this short video about a very cool project created by two high school kids called Cost of a Chicken. The project involves an interactive computer program with inputs from kids all over the world who help us understand and find out the price of a strawberry, a head of lettuce, or a chicken from down the street, the local farm, or across the country or ocean. Our friends at Green Ninja, turned us on to this particular project, and they have many other great “conversation starters,” blog posts and videos of their own for you to share with the kids in your life. Check them out too!

At a juncture in human history where most kids in the developed world think their hamburger, bun and the lettuce and tomato that goes on it all come from the “grocery store” it is a good time to remind them where our resources and food sources actually come from. Our resources like are planet are not infinitely bountiful. In fact, and sadly so many kids around the world already wake up each day to an empty stomach and no grocery store anywhere in sight. We need to take better care of our world and remind our children why it is so important to do this as well, for now and for our future.

Yours,

Climate Mama