© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Garden Gives City Kids A Taste For Veggies

City kids learn a lot of valuable tools for survival, like how to ride subways and push the buttons on elevators. But a lot of city kids think that green is just the color of a streetlight. Not Annie and Veda, two 5-year-old girls living in Washington, D.C., who now know that fresh vegetables don't just come from the market.

They've written a book called We Grew It, Let's Eat It by Annie and Veda as told to their mother, who happens to be Justine Kenin. Her name might be familiar to you from the production credits of our show.

Annie and Veda's garden welcomes visitors with a Gerber daisy gateway. Buds dot the raspberry bushes, and the broccoli is just coming into season. Annie bites into a freshly plucked stalk. "It's good," she confirms.

Their garden belongs to Rhoda Trooboff, an avid gardener and former teacher who's been growing veggies on this patch of land since the '70s.

"We started gardening here because our kids thought vegetables and food came from stores," Trooboff says. "We wanted to teach them, my husband and I, that it comes from the land, comes from the ground, and it takes work, and it takes patience, and then the pleasure of enjoying the results of your work is intensified, because you know you did it yourself."

She says Annie and Veda are accomplished weeders. She calls out to them, "Where do we put the weeds after we pull them out?"

"Compost!" they chime. If you're looking for advice on weeding, they've got it. "You dig up the weed, and put it somewhere else." Enough said.

Annie's favorite thing to grow is squash. Veda prefers onions. What do they really wish they could grow in the garden? "Ice cream plants!"

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.