An urban farmer’s book teaches little ones how to grow a tomato and community
“As an urban farmer, I’m excited to be able to live a purpose, live my dream. But I’ve always known that I was born to be an educator,” Evans said.
By Kara Holsopple
Allegheny Front
July 6, 2023
Excerpt:
Evans teaches others to grow through her nonprofit Out of the End. That’s how she connected with toddlers at A Peace of Mind Learning Center, where the book “Tomato, Tomato, How Do You Grow?” took root.
“They just became the perfect audience to begin to create routines around growing. The book just kind of came organically with how we interacted in the garden,” Evans said. “We just started saying little chants around the tomatoes, like the words in the book, ‘Water, water, water!’”
The colorful picture book, filled with rhyming words, helps children to remember the elements it takes to grow a tomato. The illustrator, Kaila Cespedes, was one of the college students working at the child care center.
“This was her first project. It was amazing,” Evans said. “The kids were able to actually grow food, sell the food at the Wilkinsburg Farmers market and use the money to pay Kaila to illustrate the book.”
Evans said she’s gotten good feedback about the book from other teachers and from parents who also have had questions about how to grow tomatoes and what they are doing wrong.
But her biggest fans are the kids who helped her write it.
