Early this spring our family had a great time planting a huge herb garden, with a few tomato plants thrown in for good measure. Our preschool-aged children were totally up to the task of helping dig and place the tiny seedlings, and thereafter if they were bored, they could be sent out to water or weed the plant beds. Within a couple weeks, virtually every meal we prepared had something in it that we had grown ourselves.
Then we moved. Now we've got a plastic pot of basil from Trader Joe's sitting on the steps, and I have a couple of teensy pots of grow-your-own parsley seeds from the dollar bins at Target, which have yet to sprout. Thank goodness for farmer's markets, right? Only I can't send my kids to the farmer's market to play when they're squirrelly.
I can't rave enough about gardening, on any scale, as a family activity. Even though nurturing a plant hasn't made an immediate impact on my picky-eating older child's habits, her interest in what each plant is and how it's used gives me hope for her palate. And it doesn't require a particularly green thumb: herbs practically grow themselves, you can even buy Chia Herb Gardens.
This week if I had lemon thyme, I'd be roasting a chicken. If I had tarragon, I'd be making a big mustardy potato salad. And if I had dill, I'd be grilling salmon with it. Instead, I guess we're having pesto. I can't wait to get another garden into the ground, and neither can the kids: watering the ficus isn't quite cutting it for them.
George Hapgood explains the benefits of gardening for kids, without even getting to the part where you can make them put in some hard labor go play in the dirt when they're working your nerves. Kalyn's completely sparking my envy with her herbs and vegetables (maybe I can go steal some of my herbs from the old house?). And over at Adventures in my Urban Garden you can learn about how one person is getting her dirt fix right in the city, participating in a community garden project.
