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Every spring the warm weather teases me into thinking I have a green thumb. Every fall after months of digging, planting, watering, putting up fences, and protecting against frost I remember that I don’t. It seems that only half of what I plant survives weather, forgetful watering, over eager tots and animal attacks, and yet I can’t help but try again the next spring.
The food I may or may not produce is not my primary reason for gardening, which is good because my family would starve. The real reason I garden is to enjoy the outdoors with my kids. It’s an easy thing to do with kids since most love any reason to dig and get dirty, plus it’s so fun to see my tots learn about plants hands on, to watch things grow and to eat fresh peas from their pods.
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This Earth Day the tots and I transplanted some seedlings. The seeds were from my late grandmother’s store and some are more than 15 years old. I’m surprised any of them sprouted, but apparently you can’t keep a sunflower from wanting the sun – they were the best growers despite their age.
Thanks to this post by Mae at www.mommylovestrees.com I learned that the best way to encourage environmental stewardship in my kids is really quite easy. Research shows that it comes down to these three actions:
- talking about the environment at home,
- watching nature-related media,
- and reading about nature.
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Growing a garden with my kids doesn’t involve a screen or book (Unless you count Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew), but it does allow for lots of opportunities to talk about the environment and why I care about it. I love growing things, even if I’m only successful half the time. Hopefully my efforts to teach my tots about loving nature are a little more successful.
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