Kids Love Veggies at Eco City Farms (& Smoothie Recipe!)

ECO City Farms recently hosted a Kids Love Veggies workshop at their Edmonston farm, where children ages 3-7 got the chance to explore the farm and make some delicious sweet and savory treats using ingredients harvested that day. The workshop’s goal was to explore fun and tasty ways to prepare vegetables for kids. Based on the squeals, smiling faces and bellies full of dressing-topped vegetables that day, I’d say mission accomplished! Read on for more information about this fun event and future workshops and Eco City Farms.

Tour of ECO City Farm, Edmonston

ECO City Farm’s Community Farmer and Educator, Adwoa Muhammad, led the children on a tour of the farm’s grounds. This one-acre farm currently includes four hoop houses and is the perfect size for little feet to get a practical sense of the whole farm-to-table concept. They got busy picking some fresh chocolate mint (who knew?!?) that they’d later use to make a chocolate mint smoothie as well as some dill that they’d similarly pick off and use for their homemade tzatziki dip! Yum!

Kiki Hamilton: Making Vegetables Fun!

After the tour, local resident, parent and culinary expert, Kiki Hamilton, led the 8 or so children in the workshop, which had them all gleefully dicing up fresh cucumber with age-appropriate kitchen utentils and ultimately making some delicious tzakziki. Bonus for us: We came home with our very own mason jar of our deliciously creamy, garlicky creation!

The children also had the chance to take part in some smoothie and ice-cream making – which they all thoroughly enjoyed. My kiddo liked the spinach-packed smoothie so much that she polished off other kiddos’ unattended smoothies….That apple didn’t fall far from her tree. 😉

Definitely keep an eye out for the next kid-friendly workshop that they have at ECO City Farms. (This particular event was featured in Route One Fun’s Weekend Guide here.) It was really cool getting to check out this gem in our local community. Additionally, Kiki’s easygoing and experienced approach to getting children to not only eat, but also enjoy their vegetables was well worth the cost of admission. Annnnddd – there’s a playground across the street of the Farm’s Edmonston location so you can make an entire morning out of it!

About Kiki Hamilton:

I worked with youth for a number of years before transitioning into the culinary field for the past 10 years. Seven of those years I work at an Oaxacan restaurant in Portland, Oregon, which emphasized local
and sustainable foods. Being a parent has also contributed to my investment in finding ways to make healthy foods that are interesting to kids.

Any plans for a future Kids Love Veggies event?

I’ve just started doing workshops with ECO City Farm this year. I am excited about what they are doing with urban farming and to contribute to their educational programs. I will definitely let you know about
any upcoming workshops or events.

About Eco City Farms

“Engaged Community Offshoots, Inc. (ECO City Farms) is a nonprofit urban teaching and learning farm in Prince George’s County that grows great food, farms and farmers in ways that protect, restore and sustain the natural environment and the health of local communities. Working with area children, youth and adults, ECO educates and trains the next generation of urban farmers, eaters and environmental activists.”

Kiki Hamilton’s Kids Green Smoothie

Lucky for you, we managed to get Kiki to share her great Kids Green Smoothie recipe with you fabulous Route One Fun readers! Seriously – a really refreshing, tasty drink that all (even you!) will enjoy!

Green Smoothie

Makes 4-5 cups

Ingredients:

• 3 cups spinach
• 1 cup mango
• 1 pineapple
• 3-5 leaves mint
• 1 cup Unsweetened Coconut milk
• water

Blend in a high-capacity blender like Vitamix or Nutri-bullet until reaches desired consistency.

ECO City Farms’ main office is located at 6010 Taylor Road, Riverdale, Md. 20737. (The event site was the Edmonston farm location at 4913 Crittenden Street, Edmonston, MD 20781.

Route One Fun received two complimentary tickets to attend this event.