On Nov. 1, Apple Seeds Teaching Farm had its Harvest Day to prepare for all the work it does for the community.
Program Coordinator Julia Nall said the purpose of Harvest Day is to collect the produce for their programs with local kids, and to distribute the produce throughout the community.
“We’re actually going to have a frost coming this Thursday,” said Carolina Cantu, program coordinator at Apple Seeds. “So, they’re going to go out and finish harvesting all the summer vegetables.”
After harvesting, the Apple Seeds staff and volunteers prepare all their produce for child education programs and local distribution.
According to its website, the mission of Apple Seeds is to cultivate healthy lives by teaching children about garden-based food options.
“If we can make this kind of stuff easy and familiar for them,” Nall said, “we think that they’re going to have much healthier lives.”
According to Apple Seed’s website, the reason the organization exists is to provide fresh and healthy food access to kids, and to help form positive habits for adulthood.
“We’ve all been picky eaters before, and for kids that’s so difficult,” Nall Said. “Something like 49% of Arkansas adolescents have less than one fruit or vegetable per day.”
Nall said the lack of a healthy lifestyle is caused by both food insecurity and unfamiliarity. She said Apple Seeds tries to ensure multiple points of contact for familiarity, because that is going to make children more willing to try different vegetables.
(Photo provided by Julia Nall)
Cantu said she recently taught kids about healthy options at a program with Jones Elementary.
“They had a presentation to do of all their after-school club activities, and Apple Seeds was a club for them,” Cantu said, “and they were telling me how much they missed coming to Apple Seeds and how they wished they could come here again.”
Nall said the organization donates all the produce they don’t use in programs with kids to other nonprofit organizations and schools in Northwest Arkansas.
“We try to stay local,” Nall said. “We are a community organization, and that requires that we invest in our community.”
Other than their work with local schools, Program Coordinator Cantu said Apple Seeds is currently distributing to both the Boys and Girls Club and Outback Food Pantry.
Nall said Harvest Day ends at 12:30 p.m., when they load the truck and drop off all their produce at the food bank to be distributed throughout NWA schools.