Farmington Hills Summer Program Puts Kids in Food Business

A group of kids in a City of Farmington Hills summer program will go back to school this year knowing where food comes from, and how to sell it. 

Through Camp Go and Grow offered by Tollgate Farm in Novi, they planted, cultivated and harvested a crop of fruits and vegetables, then sold their products at a stand they built with materials donated by Home Depot in Farmington Hills. 

Education coordinator Alan Jaros said Tollgate offers a similar one-week "start your own business" camp, but the Farmington Hills group spent the whole summer preparing to open their stand. The city's youth and family services director Todd Lipa, who oversees the summer youth program, said activities included a trip to Eastern Market in Detroit, where they talked with business owners about how they price their products and more. 

"They came back and figured out what it cost to make stuff, so they could make a profit," he said, adding the kids tracked their activities in an online journal. 

Lipa said the city offered a program last year around the Nature Center, that involved building a Native American longhouse that still stands on the property in Heritage Park. After meeting with Jaros in February, he said, "we decided this would be a little more of a learning process for the kids."

The camp required kids to use math and other skills that will all go back to school with them in September, Lipa said.