Getting children involved in farming and home gardening projects can help them connect with nature while exposing them to some fresh air. It also gives them the opportunity to help their parents with gardening. It’s a great way to engage kids in outdoor activities where they can produce food and get exercise all while having some fun. All-natural farming or organic farming doesn’t use any toxic chemicals or elements that are harmful to the environment or to humans. All safety instructions provided with natural herbicides and pesticides should be followed, but compared to conventional products, organic farming is safer for children.
What is organic farming?
Organic farming involves using only natural methods without any harmful chemicals, toxic ingredients, or synthetic elements to fertilize, feed or increase growth. It relies on natural techniques such as crop rotation, organic compost, green manure, biological and natural pest control methods.
Organic farming does not allow Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). Feeding farm animals genetically modified food or using genetic engineering to alter the DNA structures of plants and animals is often used by large farming companies to grow bigger farm products and more crop yields for achieving different colors or traits that make them more resilient in nature.
Organic farming also excludes or strictly limits the use of various methods (including synthetic petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides; plant growth regulators such as hormones; antibiotic use in livestock; genetically modified organisms; human sewage sludge; and nanomaterials for reasons including sustainability, openness, independence, health, and safety. Organic farming is internationally and nationally monitored and regulated strictly through local, national, and federal government agencies. (Source: Wikipedia: Organic farming)
Benefits of organic farming for kids
When kids learn about farming or growing food in the garden, they change their whole perspective on it. It changes their relationship with food, as they tend to see food in a different way. Many kids today lack knowledge about food such as how they can grow it, care for it, nurture it, harvest it, where it comes from, and the benefits of growing and preparing your own food. Learning about how food is produced at an early age will improve their knowledge of the environment and ecosystem. They will also learn how to become more responsible when it comes to food.
Teaching children to love nature
When I was growing up as a kid, I spent a considerable amount of time playing outside in the fields, rolling around on the grass, and playing with butterflies. Kids today don’t connect with nature as often as they should. Farming and gardening can help kids connect and interact with nature more often. They will be able to see the activities of nature in action and gain firsthand experience on birds, animals, plants, trees, bushes, butterflies, and other elements of the ecosystem that make Mother Nature work.
Watching shows about nature on TV does not give them the full practical knowledge about nature and does not create enough motivation in them to love and care for it. They can act in ways that preserve and protect nature only if they gain practical hands-on knowledge and experience in working with nature. To do this, they need to see how nature works firsthand. They will also learn the process of how food is grown, sent to grocery stores, and gets to the pantries of people’s homes.
Conducting ranch and farm tours
Children can have fun visiting ranches and farms to witness crop growing techniques and observe farm animals and livestock. There are farms and ranches where people can visit and have a great outdoor experience. Ranchers and farmers who invite others to visit their ranches and farms put a lot of thought and effort into making the visitor’s experience as pleasant, educational, and enjoyable as possible. Children can learn a lot about the environment and ecology from field trips to farms and ranches, which helps them understand and connect with nature better.
Returning the favor
Kids can become more active in saving nature when they appreciate and learn more about it. Kids who are not aware of the negative impacts of toxic fertilizers, insecticides, and GMO farming will never learn to save the planet from these negative effects. If children learn to preserve nature and natural resources from a very early stage, they are more likely to become active in reducing or even reversing negative impacts on the globe.
They will be motivated to recycle, use organic and compost fertilizers, use natural methods for pest and predator controls, and learn to keep the natural ecological balance. They will make sure they don’t deplete natural resources and keep the fertility of the land intact.
Reducing negative impacts
Teaching kids to the farm and being close to nature has many benefits. If children learn about ecology and how we are part of the bigger ecological system, there would be fewer conflicts. Once people understand the value of organic farming, they can start producing more food, lessen the dwindling of earth’s resources, and stop world hunger. It is not enough just to teach students about nature in schools without giving them practical knowledge and showing them how they can act towards reducing negative impacts on the environment. Environmentalism is not a choice, but a necessity today.
Your children can grow up learning about the benefits of growing their own food as they connect with nature and improve the environment, all while having fun with organic farming. It is very important to teach children about ecology and nature so that they can become passionate about reducing negative impacts on the globe. Starting at an early age, they can conserve nature, reduce wastage and learn about sustainability.
Visit Mountain Sky Ranch and experience sustainable agriculture. Schedule a tour or one of the many other activities on our farm, such as a working adventure, seminar or workshop, special event for your group, fishing, and more. Contact us today. If you don’t live near Berthoud, Colorado, search for farms near you.
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Studies show that the overall agricultural, hygiene, harvesting and production practices of organic food producers actually enhances the safety of the food
with the absence of pathogens and incidents of E Coli.
Thank you for sharing this info!