Welcome to Dirt to Dine Adventures!

What We Do

Dirt-to-Dine Adventures are farm and garden-centered, hands-on experiences where children create all aspects of the foods they cook and eat, from milking goats and making cheese and butter, to caring for chickens and harvesting free-range eggs, to grinding wheat into flour, preserving fruit and growing vegetables. We offer Adventure Camps at Connolly Ranch in Napa, California, as well as custom programs for small private groups, and school-based programs. We also develop inspirational guides for parents & teachers to create these “discovery moments” with their children where ever they live. If you are interested in custom Dirt to Dine Adventure programs, email dirt2dine@gmail.com.

Who We Are

Dirt to Dine Adventures are a collaboration between Napa Valley Chef & Cooking Channel TV host Michael Chiarello and his wife, Eileen, and the Connolly Ranch in Napa, California, lead by Bob Pallas and Michael Lauher. Additional founding team members Jen Carden, author of Toddler Café, and Marie Sayles, Master Garden Educator. Connolly Ranch is dedicated 100% to educating children about farm and environmental care and raising food sustainably, and serves over 3400 Bay Area children annual in its farm-based programs. Click Here for more About the Dirt to Dine team.

Dirt to Dine Adventure Video Series for Families

We are seeking sponsors of our 6-part Dirt to Dine Adventure Video series and parent guides, to be launched in Oct, 2011. If interested, please contact Eileen Gordon Chiarello at dirt2dine@gmail.com

Why Dirt to Dine Adventures, why now?

More than ever, parents and their kids need encouragement to eat right and stay healthy, and future generations of Americans will have to make very different consumer choices if we are to reverse our health and environmental issues. Further, these issues affect vastly diverse parts of our society, such as the military (inability to recruit healthy young people), the environment (creating a waste explosion with the overly-packaged and overly-transported foods), overall mental health (with chemically-laden foods and imbalanced diets) and general satisfaction in life (stemming from a complete disconnection to the foods we eat and the natural world that provides for them). Even our first lady, Michelle Obama, is making it her mission to promote awareness of good eating and healthy food choices. Her comprehensive Lets Move Initiative aims to reverse the alarming statistics of Childhood Obesity in America caused by major shifts in our behavior over the past 50 years. (See http://www.letsmove.gov/learn-facts/epidemic-childhood-obesity).

At Dirt to Dine Adventures, we believe that involving children in the process of growing, raising and making food is the ultimate way to create healthy, lasting habits for them and the earth. We are seeking sponsors of our NEW Dirt to Dine Adventures Online, which will be a vital community hub for parents of school-age children who seek to raise the next generation of earth-friendly and health-conscious eaters.

Benefits of Farming, Gardening, and Cooking with Children: In support of Slow Parenting

• Doing these activities together offers families a refuge from the over-scheduled, technology-dominant modern lives our children experience, and creates more satisfying family time.


• These activities benefit kids' health and well-being, their beliefs about the environment, their connections to community, and their respect for the natural cycles that sustain us.


• They capture kids' innate curiosities, teaching them to nurture and protect our vital sources of food.


• They allow creativity and give children a sense of control over choosing & eating well.


• They encourage parenting & sibling bonding, mastery of life skills and lots of playful family fun!

Dirt to Dine Adventure Camps

Dirt-to-Dine Adventures Camps are farm-based food adventure camps for school-age children. Every day, children explore the sources of healthy, low-impact foods – planting, tending and harvesting garden vegetables, feeding and gathering eggs from chickens, foraging for local berries and fruit trees. They start the day with animal care, farm chores, gardening, and lead up to cooking from the foods just harvested. In addition, while getting good and dirty and having tons of fun, they make their own discoveries about healthy, flavorful foods, nutrition, sustainable gardening & farming, composting and the benefits of eating locally. They also observe the fundamental cycles in nature that sustain us, such as pollination or the life cycle of eggs. The camp exposes children to critical questions about sound ecology, diversity in farms & eco-systems, food choices & responsible eating, cooking & stewardship.

Most importantly, at Dirt to Dine Adventure Camps, children discover the joy of creating what they eat.

Click here to view Photo Highlights from our camps.

If you are interested in a custom Dirt to Dine Adventure for your group, email dirt2dine@gmail.com. Learn about all Connolly Ranch programs by visiting http://www.connollyranch.org.