Planting Seeds in Youth

My family and I created a map of our dream family garden for this summer. We moved it from last year, and designed a garden with a modern feel. We then planted our plants and seeds. We bought jalapeño and tomato plants, along with carrot, lettuce, onion, and cilantro seeds. I have successfully grown tomatoes, peppers, and cilantro before. Growing carrots and lettuce is a first for me, and I failed at growing onions a few years ago. My husband and I invest time and money I building our garden. Because of that, thoughts concerning success and failure flood over me at times. I try to give them only a bit of my mind's space, especially on exciting days, like actually planting the garden.

Planting the family garden requires patience when your gardeners are four and two. All processes take extra time and they dance with anticipation. For instance, digging the dirt out of the bag with two plastic shovels takes longer than using one large metal shovel. Sprinkling seeds with chubby fingers, whose owners haven't yet mastered fine motor skills, requires you return to the garden later to spread seeds in what you hope will be a somewhat straight row. You scoop expensive dirt from the yard into flowerpots.

I will not garden any other way, though. My children are what make it a family garden and providing them with accessible and healthy food was my original inspiration. I hope to teach my children that dinner doesn't come from a plastic bag you pull from the freezer. I hope they see that gardening, like so many tasks in life are a bit of successes and failures, and you need to learn from them both. I hope to teach them patience, from the way I guide them in planting and watering the garden, to waiting for our yummy food to grow.

Interested in learning more about the Home Farming Movement? Read more here!