Thursday a group of Augusta County kids saw firsthand that popcorn comes not from a microwave, but from the ground.
Members of the Boys and Girls Club of Waynesboro have been taking weekly field trips to Project Grows, a community farm in Verona. There they cultivate fruits and vegetables and take some of the harvest with them back to the club where it becomes part of a healthy meal they help prepare.
The unique healthy eating program gives children the chance to help plant real foods, and enjoy them after harvest.
"They harvested six pounds of lettuce," said Ryan Blosser with Project Grows. "And they were saying, 'We've got lettuce!' and were just really excited about taking lettuce back to the Boys & Girls Club, weighing it, and then integrating it into one of their meals."
The program offers weekly lesson in healthy habits, part of a childhood-obesity prevention program from Augusta Health.
Pat Caulkins with Augusta Health said, "They saw a need to figure out how to get children reconnected to the land, and to healthy food, and to learn how to grow and cook and prepare and enjoy the food and their fruits and vegetables."
The Boys & Girls Club program is funded by a two-year grant from the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth.
