The sun was shining and families were out in full force while Slow Food Foothills participated in the 35th annual Super Saturday Theater Festival held Saturday, March 16, on Melrose Avenue in Tryon.

Host Marilyn Doheny allowed for the set up of an interactive gardening station on the front yard of the Historic Melrose Inn, which was also opened for self-guided tours.

Slow Food offered gardeners of all ages the opportunity to plant one of three vegetables with organic seeds purchased from the Mill Spring Ag Center’s Farm Store. Western North Carolina’s Sow True Seeds, which are non-GMO seeds, were selected in an attempt to support the Slow Food credo of fresh, local, clean and fair food. The choices for planting were a sweet cherry tomato named “Cherry Sweetie,” sweet bell peppers named “Golden California Wonder” that turn from green to yellow to a deep orange color, and finally a wonderful lettuce mix with four varieties of lettuce including Rouge de Hiver and Red Salad Bowl.

Accompanying each plant were instructions of how to take care of them until harvest and fun recipes such as Caprese salad on a stick to encourage kids to be adventurous and help in the kitchen. Slow Food Foothills’ newest focus, Slow Food in Schools, has found that if the kids are involved all the way through (selection of the seed, growing of the plant, harvesting of the plant, incorporating their vegetable into a recipe, preparation of the recipe and finally, eating), they are more apt to try new things.