CHAPTER 1 Far Away Close to Home When farmer Tim Redmond visits fifth-grade classrooms in Ann Arbor Michigan he brings bags and bags of spinach Yes spinach That leafy chlorophyll-rich stuff that rabbits and squirrels love to munch Tim doesn’t bring just one type of spinach he brings two One batch is fresh big-leaf overwintered greens grown on his farm Skinny Farm of Scio The other batch is imported greens traveling as much as 4 weeks to reach the desks of these midwestern kids 4 21st century skills library
While spinach was first cultivated in the Middle East its first recorded use comes from China around the year 650 ce 5 5
WEARY TRAVELERS Visualizing the average miles U S produce travels Vegetables can travel a long way to get to your plate Tim spears the greens with toothpicks Then he asks the students to compare and contrast the flavors Is there a difference in taste and texture He savors the moment when the children try his spinach Their eyes pop open he laughs And they say Wow this is really good What makes Tim’s spinach so special Let’s travel to his small farm to learn about how he harvests fruits and vegetables on a small scale 6 21st century skills library
Like the store-bought greens that Tim brings to classrooms many foods journey thousands of miles to your table Their journey to your plate involves not simply being harvested but also being processed boxed shipped and shelved Take a look at how far these supermarket veggies have traveled Even simple unprocessed foods rack up thousands of miles and change many hands to get to your plate Corn Potatoes Carrots Lettuce Peas 813 miles 1,308 kilometers 1,239 miles 1,994 km 1,774 miles 2,855 km 2,055 miles 3,307 km 2,102 miles 3,383 km 7 Nature’s Makers
