7Yulee and her four friends --- Nick, Pedro, Sally and Martin --- are taking a trip to her aunt's farm to pick apples and make an apple crisp for a potluck harvest dinner. Yum But first, Aunt Sara gives the friends a tour of the whole farm, where they learn what it means to eat balanced meals, why eating local food matters and all that goes into getting food from farm to table. Who knew there was so much to learn about what we eat? It makes everything taste better

Award-winning author and illustrator Scot Ritchie uses accessible and entertaining language and familiar characters from his other books to encourage young children to make healthy choices about what they eat. Each stop on the farm tour introduces a basic food group: the field of wheat and oats for grains, the garden for vegetables, the henhouse for protein, the barn for dairy and the orchard for fruit. Ritchie's cheerful, busy illustrations invite children to look closer at the details. This is a terrific book for a science or health lesson to broaden young children's understanding of healthy eating and why local food matters. The potluck dinner includes a multicultural group of neighbors and provides opportunities for discussions about community involvement. There is an apple crisp recipe at the end of the story. Also provided are a table of contents and glossary.