Agriculture

These young farmers will eat — and plant — their veggies

Young Farmers Camp coordinator Lucy Senesac plants seeds with Rudy Bruer, 10, of Mattituck and Julia Galasso, 12, of Westhampton. (Credit: Katharine Schroeder)
Young Farmers Camp coordinator Lucy Senesac plants seeds with Rudy Bruer, 10, of Mattituck and Julia Galasso, 12, of Westhampton. (Credit: Katharine Schroeder)

“Eat your vegetables.”

The phrase may generate a certain queasy feeling in your stomach and an innate desire to defy your mother. Uttered sternly by countless moms over the years to kids of all ages, it’s easy to remember that nothing seemed worse than swallowing the last (or first) bite of broccoli or brussels sprouts.

Lucy Senesac of Sang Lee Farms, however, is determined to change that healthy-eating stereotype.

Sang Lee Farms in Peconic is running a Young Farmer’s Camp for 7- to 12-year-olds on Wednesdays through Aug. 13. Ms. Senesac began working at Sang Lee about four years ago and became eager to share her knowledge with kids.

“I wanted to do something to basically teach other people because I’ve learned so much here,” she explained. “And I’ve just found that it’s so important to learn where your food comes from. It affects so much.”KATHARINE SCHROEDER PHOTOVegetables grow in raised beds.

Ms. Senesac eventually wants to offer classes on healthy and organic eating for adults, but for now she’s starting with kids. This is the first year for the camp, which runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with plenty of fun activities and learning opportunities. Nine children are currently enrolled.

“I wanted to share my passion for good food and eating well with the kids out here because it’s such a great community and there’s so much farming. They just need to be a part of it,” she said.

Camp is complete with hay bales, a chalkboard and garden beds just for the kids. Every week the campers plant and learn about the “vegetables of the week.” In the mornings, they recap what they learned the week before and look to see if anything has sprouted.

Next, Ms. Senesac takes them around Sang Lee to learn about the new vegetables of the week and then they go over an educational topic of the week.

The first week’s topic was “what organic means” the second week’s was bees.