Some people just make you wonder .....

[Bec]

When they hire people there, we are supposed to get training. Now, thier idea of training is on your first day, they sit you down infront of a tv and make you watch a few videos on farm life...LOL.
Then you are given a BIG book of all the products we carry....how many people do you think actually even look at it???
Not many of my fellow employees know anything about farming or just raising animals and keeping them...There are a handful of people there that know what they are talking about..and it is a small handfull....we have a lady that raises goats, another pigs and one more that lives on a cattle farm....and then there is me....that is it as far as knowlegble about animals and their care. I will no longer be working there here shortly for other reasons, but it sure has been interesting being there and actually working with these people who haven't got a clue.....

 

[Mac]

We must be lucky. Our eggs are in such demand in the DC area where my husband works. When he shows up with eggs for co-workers on a Monday, they are gone in seconds. But, that area is really "going back to basics" as the whole, farm raised, organic, but locally raised food is being offered at the many farmers markets are mobbed on weekends. I'm glad folks are teaching their kids where food actually comes from.

 

[SpottedCrow]

If you think back into the pioneer days or even back to your great grandparents' times, they probably had a chicken or two, a cow or a goat, and a garden...Only the people in the cities could afford to buy milk, eggs and veggies.
Now that we've become industrialized, we've forgotten how everything used to be...How many farms are there left near you? Are there any? There used to be lots! Big business put them all out of business, even farms that have been in the family for generations. They can do it cheaper and have more animals so that they can produce more, but you pay for it in the end with antibiotic resistant bacterias, GM foods, etc.
It's about time that folks start to get back to the basics. It's cheaper in the long run to grow your own food. You know where it came from. You know where it's been. You know what it's been eating...

 

[hooligan]

I totally agree. My grandparents had chickens, rabbits, cows and pigs...and a HUGE (well to me as a kid it was) garden. And even though I never ate the meat that came from the animals, because I KNEW them and PETTED them gawd how I loved the garden.
My favorite thing to swipe from the counter were cucumbers. They grew the pickling varieties so until I got MUCH older I had never seen the slick kinds they sell in the stores. And tomato and mayo sandwiches were the best! Tomatoes have no taste fromt he stores, they are only in the shape of a tomato, and thats about it!
I try to garden a bit each year. We used to have the entire side yard as a veggie garden adn originally got the chicks to eat the pests but the chickens took over the yard and there isn't even any grass in there anymore!
I only grow heirloom or non hybrid varieties bc there is just something about growing something that my great great grandparents grew.

 

[Wildsky]

Quote:
I hope that my kids feel the same way - I'm growing veggies this year, and while looking through the seed catalog the thing that was going through my head was what will LOOK like the stuff we buy so the kids might eat it. BUT - they don't eat tomatos anyway, and salad fixin's are also a no go for them. One will not eat Green beans, and the other won't eat peas!
So for my fussy kids, I hope my attempt brings some tasty stuff they will actually EAT!

 

[hooligan]

Maybe you need to go the opposite way and get them "cool looking" veggies.
Alot of people don't grow them anymore but there are yellow/white/purple/red carrots and green/yellow/white/black/purple/orange tomatoes plus all the striped ones...and they are all heirloom veggies that were common 100 years ago.
Check out www.rareseeds.com. GREAT shipping prices and get usually get more than 2x the seeds than stated on the website/catalog.
I try to go to their festivals every year even though its like 4hrs from me and the veggies are soooo tasty.

 

[ORChick]

Re: getting kids to eat your garden produce, you might have better luck if they help you grow it. Do not give them a lot of weeding chores, but rather let them plant the radishes etc. They might even want their own little corner of the garden to do with as they like. There are several books available that have to do with gardening with children (sorry, can't think of any names right off hand)

My story of un-knowledgable clerks has nothing to do with livestock, but is, I think, amusing. Many years ago we were visiting my in-laws in Germany. We went with BIL to a Home Depot-like store. DH saw a small solar panel that one could use for a garden fountain (at the time we had seen nothing like it here) so he decided to buy it (some souvenir to bring home from a European vacation LOL). As a joke he asked the young cashier if she knew if the thing would work with California sun. She, completely serious, and very puzzled, thought for a moment, said she really had no idea, and would he like to talk to a manager? LOL

 

[Rosalind]

Whaddaya mean, don't give the kids a lot of weeding chores? I got ALL the weeding chores when I was a kid! And I still ate peas, greenbeans, etc. Of course, my family used the old, "Eat it or go hungry and get a spanking, your choice" method of child-rearing, which is not really in style anymore.

I agree with ORChick though, let them do the planting and minding. Works a lot better. Also accept that some things, your kids may never like--only starvation in the dregs of a nuclear winter will ever induce me to eat brussels sprouts again. I always liked the weird-looking things better myself. Maybe if you plant wax beans or Royal Burgundy French beans instead of regular greenbeans, you can trick them into eating some? Also, lots of kids don't like veggies cooked but will eat them raw with a little ranch dressing, with their fingers. This is good because it saves you cooking.

 

[Wildsky]

LOL - if I had my kids weeding they'd pull out the VEGGIE plants!!

ORChick - you DO know the californian sun is different than the rest of us get?

My kids do like lots of their veggies raw or almost raw... my daughter will eat a whole bag of carrots raw, but not touch em in a stew (?)
They both do like Broccoli and Cauliflower (steamed) my son will eat his with gravy or other on it, my daughter won't touch it if I've put anything on top (?) I guess thats a GOOD thing.

 

[dbjay417]

tomatoes are a synch to get kids excited about growing. The plants grow easy and almost anywhere, the fruit is visible and its easy to tell when they are ripe and ready for harvest.