Dig In!

Grow your own fruits and vegetables from nothing but kitchen scraps!

Rather than throwing away leftovers from food in your kitchen, you can use them to grow more. Learn how to turn a single sweet potato into a pot full of them. Grow a salad from the end bit of lettuce and a lemon tree from a single seed. Several of these projects require nothing more than a jar, a windowsill, and a few pieces of food that would otherwise end up in the trash or compost. Step-by-step drawings and photographs make it easy to follow along, and fun recipes will help you enjoy the fruits of your labor.

ALA Top 10 Sustainability Themed Children's Book List Top 10 Project Books for Youth AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books Finalist Green Earth Book Award Long List

“"This large-format book shows kids how they can use kitchen cast-offs to grow new food. For instance, most cooks cut off the top of a pineapple and discard it. But placed in a dish of water, the leafy top will grow roots that can be placed in soil and the new plant may produce a pineapple in two or three years. More short-term projects include growing new celery or romaine lettuce from their discarded bases, harvesting sweet potato shoots to plant, and using seeds collected from fresh-cut peppers and pumpkins. The encouraging, informative text is interspersed with appealing photos of kids gardening and plants in various stages of growth. Small digital pictures supplement the many photos, particularly in illustrating steps of the gardening projects. Throughout the book, planting projects are paired with recipes that, like most of the projects, may require some adult assistance but look very promising. Recipes include potato leek soup, a basil-parsley pesto, a pineapple-banana smoothie, sweet potato oven fries, and homemade lemonade. A fresh look at growing and preparing foods."--Booklist”

"A fresh look at growing and preparing foods."—Booklist

"A fine addition to gardening collections."—School Library Journal

"[T]his engaging volume's strength—homing in on plants' specific regenerative properties—should spark STEM projects and home gardening fun, whether in a backyard or on an apartment windowsill."—Kirkus Reviews

Kari Cornell is a freelance writer and editor who lives in South Minneapolis with her husband and two young boys. When she's not working or spending time with her family, she loves to cook, tinker in the garden, knit, or run. She feels fortunate that she's been able to combine many of the activities she likes to do in her free time with her day job. Cornell is the author of several cookbooks for children, including Cooking the Turkish Way and Cooking the Indonesian Way. She is the co-author of Growing with Purpose: Forty Years of Seward Community Cooperative Jennifer S. Larson has written many nonfiction books for young readers.

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