King County's 2005 Harvest Celebration Farm Tour kicks off with events for children

2005 Archived News

More than 300 area school children are headed to the country next week to harvest veggies, learn about nutrition and help King County kick off the 7th annual Harvest Celebration Farm Tour.

WSU King County Extension is hosting two field trips for elementary school students September 27 and 29 to farms participating in the Harvest Celebration Farm Tour. These events will also serve as media opportunities to help publicize the October 1 Harvest Celebration Farm Tour.

"It is so important to have kids see where food is grown and it's so exciting to see a child pull a carrot from the ground for the first time. We believe our lasting legacy will be reestablishing the connection that food is grown on farms for future generations," said Andrew Stout of Full Circle Farm.

The students attending these field trips have been learning about nutrition and growing food in school with the WSU Food $ense CHANGE program and will get to see and experience what they have learned on a much larger scale. These students will meet the farmers and prepare a dish from farm fresh produce. They will also have the chance to harvest a vegetable to take home, and spend time learning and playing on the farm through fun activities, such as relay races in a corn field or a nutrition oriented scavenger hunt.

"Farm tours are a great opportunity for our communities to learn about the source and preparation of their produce and to understand the importance of using community resources," Executive Sims said. “I think events like this one, where children can get an up close look at where their vegetables and milk come from, are a great way to convey how important farming is to our future."

The students' farm visit will kick off King County's 7th annual Harvest Celebration Farm Tour by teaching children about the link between locally grown food and nutrition on one of the farms featured on the October 1 tour. The annual event helps support local farms and our local food system by introducing King County citizens to local farmers and their produce on their farms.

Go to http://www.metrokc.gov/wsu-ce/farmtour/ to get a full list of the farms participating in the October 1 Harvest Celebration Farm Tour. The Harvest Celebration Farm Tour kick-off events are presented by Washington State University King County Extension with help from King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, King County Office of Business Relations and Economic Development, Puget Sound Fresh, PCC Natural Markets, Full Circle Farm, 4Culture, and the Cascade Harvest Coalition.

Students will be at the following locations for media opportunities:

• On September 27, students from White Center Heights Elementary School will be visiting Fall City Farm from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• On September 29, students from Thorndyke Elementary School will be visiting Full Circle Farm from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Directions to Fall City Farm 3636 Neal Rd. SE, Fall City 98024
From Fall City, drive north on Carnation-Fall City Road (Hwy 203) towards Carnation, take the first left in about 50 yards onto Neal Road. Go .5 mile to the farm and take the gravel drive to the barns and parking.

Directions to Full Circle Farm 31904 NE 8th St., Carnation 98014
From Fall City, drive north on Carnation-Fall City Road (Hwy 203) turn west onto NE 8th St., just south of Carnation. The farm is 200 yards down the road.