Farm Camp teaches kids how to use farming for health and economic benefits

Pine Mountain Settlement School staff say the Farm Camp taught kids how to meet their needs and impact their communities through farming.

The camp is a research project by the Community Leadership Institute of Kentucky (CLIK), in collaboration with the University of Kentucky Center of Excellence in Rural Health, the Kentucky Office of Rural Health and the UK Center for Clinical and Translational Science.

The project gives insight to researchers into health and health interventions in communities.

Pine Mountain Settlement staff also say it teaches kids how to be self-sufficient through hands-on learning.

Part of what kids learned was the health and economic benefits of farming.

"The entire week these kids have experienced almost every aspect of farming, from seed to table and even marketing," says Preston Jones, Interim Executive Director.

Some of those activities included a mini farmers' market, blending spices, knife techniques, making ice cream, butter and many others.

Volunteers say they hope this week has made a lasting impact on kids, that they will continue to use. Even hoping that one day they will farm and stay in the area to do so, as they get older.

"I'm hoping that they will have a desire set in them to want to pursue growing their own food and raising their own livestock. So, they can use that in their adulthood, and pass that on to their children," says Elizabeth Jones, Farm Camp Volunteer.

The camp coincides with the of the Pine Mountain Settlement School and what staff teaches kids year-round about agriculture and being self-sufficient, through their Farm Institute program.

The camp concluded on Friday with a mini farmers' market, where kids were given "carrot cash" to use at the market and take home food from local farmers.