Cabbage is the key ingredient in many Southern Appalachian dishes, like coleslaw. In our latest Meet Your Farmer video, see how cabbage is grown at Deal Family Farms, a multi-generational farm located in Franklin, NC. Meet some members of the Deal family, including farmer Joe and his teenage son, Braxton. Find out what vegetables cabbage is related to, learn about photosynthesis, and see the difference between an immature cabbage head and one that’s fully grown and ready to harvest.
In addition to the cabbages and collards seen in this video, the Deals grow a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, which they sell at their Fruit Stand. They also welcome visitors to their farm for activities like a corn maze and pumpkin patch in the fall.
This video could be used as the starting point to explore many topics with students, including cabbage and other cole family crops, photosynthesis, plant parts, nutrition/trying new vegetables, and farm life. Complimentary Growing Minds lesson plans and resources can be found below.
Lesson Plans & Resources
Preschool
- Garden Color Hunt lesson plan
- Garden Plot Crackers lesson plan
- What Plants Need lesson plan
- Root and Shoots lesson plan
- Cabbage Exploration lesson plan
Grades K-2
- Seasons on a Farm lesson plan
- Harvesting in the Garden lesson plan
- Garden Plot Crackers lesson plan
- Cabbage Quesadillas lesson plan
- Cabbage Exploration lesson plan
- Stem Exploration lesson plan
Grades 3-5
Other Resources
- Cabbage resource list
- Winter Greens resource list
- Recipe: Apple cabbage coleslaw
- Recipe: Cabbage soup
- Recipe: Apple quesadillas with cabbage salad
Journal Prompt
In the video, Farmer Joe mentions that there are many ways to prepare cabbage to eat, but that his favorite dish is coleslaw. Have you ever eaten cabbage? What about coleslaw? Do you have a favorite dish that features this vegetable? Do you prefer to eat cabbage raw, like in coleslaw, or cooked, like stewed cabbage or cabbage soup? Did learning more about how cabbage grows make you more interested in eating it? Why or why not?
Make a Cabbage Accordion Book
This is a sequencing activity. Apart from this video, have your children or students ever seen cabbage growing? Show children photographs of cabbages at different stages of growth. Ask children to order and glue the pictures from beginning to end of a cabbage’s growth in accordion books. They can glue the extra pictures in the cover or on the back pages of the book.