​Kids – Join the Plant to Plate Challenge!

Youth of all ages in Columbia and Greene Counties are invited to join the new Plant to Plate Challenge sponsored by 4-H!

Here is a wonderful opportunity to mesh your interests in cooking and growing things. Just choose a recipe and grow at least two ingredients. The recipe can be for a snack, a beverage, a salad, a soup….whatever you want to try. Your plants can be herbs, veggies, fruit or even edible flowers!! You can start with seeds or seedlings (even ones you purchase). You can grow your plants in containers (like pots or buckets) or in a small garden space (no more than 9 sq ft). That space can be at your home, in a community garden, or even part of a friend’s garden.

Need some ideas? Here are some from our early registrants:

• Bruschetta (growing tomato, basil, garlic, onion in part of an existing garden)
• Tomato Basil Soup (tomato and basil in garden bags with organic soil)
• Twice baked potato (growing peas, potato, carrot, green onion in an existing garden)
• Green pepper pizza with homemade sauce (growing tomatoes and green peppers in an existing garden)

Then, just document the process and enjoy your home-grown nutritious meal! Our 4-H Natural Environment Educator, Anna Herrod-McGrew, will check in with you several times over the summer and is available to answer any growing questions. Everyone who completes the challenge by sharing a photo of their plants at harvest time and one of their final dish will receive a cooking or gardening prize.

Want to sign up? Everyone who does by July 1 will receive a Stewart’s ice cream cone and several packets of seeds. For the registration form and helpful gardening info, go to the 4-H plant science page.

Want to participate but can’t access the form? Contact Anna Harrod-McGrew, 4-H Natural Sciences Educator at 518-318-1180 and leave a message or email her at [email protected].

Last updated June 12, 2020