OXFORD, Miss. (WTVA) -- Kids and parents converged in Oxford for the final expo of the 2012 Oxford Community Garden series.
When it comes to learning about what all can grow from the ground up, it helps to start at a young age.
So the one-hour expo afforded kids of all ages a chance to play and learn.
It's designed to do a number of things, but mainly teach kids the important basics of growing a garden.
"That compost is really really good for the soil," said Norah Bruce, Lafayette County resident. "If you compost a lot, it can help you grow vegetables and stuff."
"We dug to see what things we could find and see if we could find new worms or bugs," adds Owen Bruce, Lafayette County resident.
"[We're] learning not only how to compost but what's in the compost," added Meridith Wulff, co-chair for Education Committee for the Community Garden. "The kids have been digging around in it and seeing what's inside the different layers of the pile and how they can do this at home with their own families."
Another benefit from the workshop is that kids get outside and learn about what all is in the environment.
"I think that there are a lot of kids that don't get outside enough and don't have a lot of hands-on experience with dirt and soil; with fresh air," adds Wulff. "I think activities like this sort of show the interest in gardening and learning more about their natural world."
The gardening expo is also teaching the next generation about some of the things that you can plant and harvest during the spring and winter months.
Those items include carrots and greens; most gardening experts will tell you when it comes to a frost during the winter months, it helps the food be more nutritious and it tastes better.
"Brescas include a lot of greens, broccoli and things like that, things that are frost-tolerant," adds Lydia Koltai, volunteer. "Actually a lot of greens taste better after a frost, so those are really great to plant this time of year."
With more kids learning the basics in gardening organizers hope it will lead to healthier habits for families.
This marked the last garden expo for kids of the year.
The series will start again in the spring of next year.
