Farm Fresh Rhode Island blog

For one more week, outdoor farmers markets will be bustling with gorgeous winter squashes, crisp apples and fresh garlic (to be followed by the opening of the indoor Wintertime Farmers’ Market in Pawtucket on November 7). But Farm Fresh is already looking back at what has been one of the highlights of the past summer for us: our Healthy Foods, Healthy Families program.

This season, if you shopped at the Armory, Broad St., Pawtucket, or Woonsocket Farmers Markets you may have noticed a tent bustling with kids of all ages eating, learning, and talking about fruits and veggies. Those kids were part of Healthy Foods, Healthy Families, a family nutrition education program run by Farm Fresh RI and URI and funded by Blue Cross Blue Shield of RI.

The Healthy Foods, Healthy Families program began at the Armory Park Farmers’ Market as a pilot site in 2008. In 2009 it ran at four farmers markets, offering a curriculum of nutrition education through fun, interactive activities for both parent and child. The curriculum also included cooking demonstrations featuring healthy recipes and weekly tastings of fresh produce found at the markets. Low-income families, identified through their participation in the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) program, signed up for the 3-week program at the market and received a new item each week to help them use more fruits and veggies:

• Week 1: Recipe book (PDF) in Spanish and English
• Week 2: Canvas grocery shopping bag
• Week 3: $25 in Fresh Bucks (coins that can be used to purchase fruits and vegetables at farmers’ markets).

In all, there were 195 families who signed up for the program and 106 families who completed all three weeks. Each week children were engaged in various lessons with a take-home message about the variety and amounts of fruits and veggies kids should eat. Some popular lessons were:

• “Guess the Mystery Fruit or Vegetable” - a variety-themed activity where kids and parents reached their hands into brown paper lunch bags and tried to guess what fruits/vegetables was inside. After guessing what was in the 6 bags participants could taste each item.
• “Eat a Rainbow” - a variety-themed activity where kids were given paper plates with different colors around the edges, and served samples of different colored fruits and vegetables that corresponded to the colors.  Everyone voted on their favorites at all four markets- blueberries won!

Healthy Foods, Healthy Families helped to make the farmers market an accessible and inviting to place for families who may otherwise have only come once a season with their WIC coupons.  All materials were available in both English and Spanish. Kids sampled fresh foods they’d never had before, and parents had individual attention and support from a nutritionist who could help them plan affordable, healthy meals. Next year we are hoping to continue to grow the Healthy Foods, Healthy Families program so that it can reach more Rhode Island families.