Children grow and sell own food at local market

Children from schools in Stroud have been growing their own fruit and veg to sell at a local market as part of a project to promote better understanding of food.

Archway School and Cashes Green Primary set up stalls at the Shambles market after spending months learning how to grow and tend their produce at gardens at school.

Profits from the sales are going to Stroud charity, The Long Table.

Organisers said the scheme is promoting important life skills through food education and that the children are "twice as likely to eat their five a day" as a result.

It was a busy shift for the two schools selling everything they have grown from potatoes to chard to basil and cabbages.

Ben, from Archway School, said it has been a challenge particularly in the recent hot weather.

"Almost every day we've been watering it all because of how hot it is and how much water it consumes," he said.

Solomon said it has been fun learning about growing the food.

"We've spent quite a while arranging it every Monday lunch time and then we sometimes get taken out of lessons to grow the food and it's been quite hard work," he added.

Although chard and broad beans seemed to go down particularly well with the pupils, Skyla from Cashes Green Primary School said her teacher got to pick something special.

"We grew this tiny carrot, just one single carrot, and it was like 4cm. It was tiny and our teacher ate it for his tea last night so I found that quite funny," she said.

The project is being run locally by Young Marketeers, a food education programme run by the School Food Matters charity.

Last year it worked in 120 schools across the UK. Ruth Quinlan, the local project officer for Gloucestershire, helped teach the children how to grow the produce at school.

"They're understanding about their positive effect on the environment and they're excited about eating the food that they've grown," she said.

"They know they put a seed in a pot or in the ground and they can produce food and that's just a really powerful thing."

Profits from the sales will go to The Long Table, which works to end food poverty and social isolation. Co-founder, Tom Herbert, visited the market and said it was great to see the children learning about and growing their own food.

"There's no going back now, thats the change that really counts," he said.

"To then be able to do that with others in your class and then have this experience in the market of selling it, it's wonderful.

"And of course, cooking it, eating it, that's really the cherry on the cake."

On the Archway stall almost all of the potatoes went early on - with a steady stream of customers lining up to support both schools.

Mary, from Stroud, said: "The kids themselves are getting involved and they're supporting another local community based organisation and I think that's fantastic."

Another customer, Anthony from Painswick, came away with a haul of vegetables for £6.

"This'll keep me going," he said. "Their maths is really good because I gave them a 20 pound note and they gave me a right change."

School Food Matters has been running the fruit and veg school scheme for 15 years now.

Stephanie Slater, the Founder and Chief Executive, said: "Food education is a vital life skill, and hands-on experiences such as growing and selling fresh produce can help children build a real connection with food and where it comes from.

"Market Day is a celebration of the value of food education and a moment for hundreds of enterprising young gardeners across the country to shine."

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