Students from Fairview Elementary School have tended a community garden for nine years, and a few years ago, the students decided to start selling their produce.
“My job is selling stuff, to make sure there are customers,” said Eliasz Ulrich, 10. “And to make sure customers are not mad.”
Eliasz, other students and volunteers sold tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs and onions from the garden on Sunday as they launched this year’s harvest.
Because they are still growing their crops, they also sold vegetables from neighbors’ gardens.
Eliasz got involved this year. He helped prepare the lot for planting, he spread some seeds, and he does a lot of watering, he said.
“The kids are aware that they had nowhere to buy fresh, healthy food other than this one corner store, so it was their input to contribute that way,” said Judy Elliot, education coordinator for Denver Urban Gardens.
The farmers market at the Fairview Elementary School also has started accepting food stamps.
For the summer program, children apply to work in the garden. If accepted they work a few times a week and receive a small stipend.
Sunday, the students running the farmers market at the school had a special presentation from chef Andrew Nowak and had the company of U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet.
Nowak and some of the children, including Anne Bennet, 5, daughter of the senator, cooked a stir-fry using fresh vegetables.
“Mom will want you in the kitchen now,” Nowak told the children as they cut and prepared onions, asparagus, bell peppers and other vegetables for the stir-fry.
Nowak is the leader of the Seed to Table program that holds lessons such as Sunday’s at about 35 area schools.
“Kids love being hands-on,” Nowak said. “There’s a perception by parents that the kitchen is too dangerous, and that kids don’t like it, but it could be a positive experience for everyone.”
Eliasz said he likes to cook and eat vegetables sometimes, but he has more fun growing them.
“Just getting into the dirt and having fun is the best part,” he said.
Yesenia Robles: yrobles@denverpost.com
