29 January 2020
By Mary Bermingham
mary@TheCork.ie
Lilly Higgins joins the growvolution
innocent’s ‘Big Grow’ is back, recruiting a whole new bunch of the littlest veggie growers with the mission to help kids to eat more fresh fruit and vegetables.
Now in its 9th year, innocent will once again partner with the growing experts at GIY and give primary school kids the chance to grow their own tasty food. The campaign has been developed closely with teachers and educational specialists to give aspiring junior gardeners the information and tools to create their own little vegetable patch in their garden, classroom or even on their windowsill.
Photographer: Mark Stedman
Speaking about the partnership GIY founder Michael Kelly said, “Studies show that children who grow their own food are more likely to eat fruits and vegetables and show higher levels of knowledge about nutrition. The children not only learn the science of growing, they also experience the joy of growing and eating their own food. GIY calls this ‘Food Empathy’, which is a deeper connection with food, and is proven to lead to a healthier life long-term. We are delighted to work with innocent on this once again and we hope these life lessons stay with our growers into adulthood.”
Joining the campaign this year is food writer Lilly Higgins, the friendly foodie behind the book, ‘Stuff I Make, Bake and Love’ and comedy TV show ‘Fancy Vittles’, hosted with her sister Maeve.
Speaking about the initiative, Lilly Higgins said “I am so excited to be involved in the innocent Big Grow. This campaign is doing something very important – building a lifelong love of healthy food with children. If we can instil a love of homegrown produce with kids at an early age, we are giving them a valuable skill for life!”
The innocent Big Grow is open for primary schools across the country to apply for a free Grow Kit for their school. Schools can join the growvolution by visiting innocentbiggrow.com. This year, for the first time, the school judged to have cultivated the most impressive grows will receive €1,000 towards their school garden, adding an extra incentive for the nation’s little growers to get involved and grow crazy.innocent and GIY have committed to making Growing Kits for schools available to almost 60,000 children in schools across Ireland. The Grow Kits are a great resource for the children taking part. The kits include 3 packs of seeds and this year the children will grow peas, cress & baby carrots, 32 growing cups, each student gets their own cup to sow their own little ‘crop’, 32 Compost disc that expands in their cup when water is added, a teacher’s resource booklet which includes lots of fun and educational activities which complement the Irish curriculum,a classroom wallchart so that teachers can celebrate the weekly growing highs and successes and some Star Grower Badges to be given by teachers to the weekly Star Grower.
To join #TheBigGrow conversation and pick up tips and advice – follow @innocent on Twitter and @innocentireland on Instagram and Facebook. Register on innocentbiggrow.com
