The Telling Room, a Portland-based literary arts education program that cultivates young writers, offers a summer camp for 8- to 11-year-olds. During the week-long experience, campers split their time between storytelling and working with their hands in the dirt, helping the farmers at Scatter Good Farm in Brunswick to produce vegetables for their food-insecure neighbors. Here are some words that grew out of their experience.
What does green taste like?
Greens taste like fresh air, veggies, grass, and everything else that’s green and delicious. – Freya Benham, 10, Cumberland
Green tastes sometimes peppery, other times sweet. —Luli Strong, 8, South Portland
What does healthy soil feel like on your hands?
Well, it’s very moist and it’s clumpy, but the clumps are small. Usually there are bits of roots in it. —Isabel Strong, 8, South Portland
Soft, crumbly, chewy, moist, damp. -Noa Kraslen, 9, Yarmouth
Why do ladybugs make farmers smile?
They eat aphids. I personally don’t like them. —Lana Brown, 9, Cumberland Foreside
What does a fresh radish, pulled from the soil, smell like?
Radishes smell spicy. They remind me of peppers. —Charlie Whiston, 8, Cumberland Foreside
Dirt and fresh air. —Margot Bisson, 10, Brunswick
Why are fresh peas so juicy?
Because they are new and ripe. Snap peas are my favorite. -Charlie Whiston, 8, Cumberland Foreside
Because they just drank. —Ethan Bisson, 8, Brunswick
What does a field of vegetables sound like?
It sounds like a little breeze and the pop of radishes out of the ground. —Nora Marks, 8, South Portland
Silence. And nutrients. —Hunter Whiston, 10, Cumberland Foreside
Peace and quiet. —Bea Faunce, 9, North Yarmouth
