I can now officially call what was last week a pile of dirt and stones a garden.
We planted beets, turnips, three kinds of lettuce, thyme, and catnip seeds. We planted strawberry plants that are already flowering or near to it. We planted three kinds of tomato plants, red, green and banana peppers, zucchini, cukes, and acorn squash.
There are a few more zucchini and squash plants to be planted over along our fence by the former and future compost pile. We also want to plat some peas just outside the raised part of the garden and they can climb the wall.
The best part was having our feet in the soft dirt with the sun on our backs. All four of the kids helped, although I'm not sure if Patrick actually touched the dirt with his hands or not.
I was talking to a friend about the fact that these are going to be some very expensive veggies when you factor in the piles of rock & dirt. She couldn't understand why we'd go to the trouble when we can buy good organic veggies from a farmer a couple of miles away. A big part of the reason that I wanted a garden is because work is good for kids. Work that produces something of value and really contributes to the family teaches them lessons that nothing else can. I also think that we've lost too many basic survival skills in our culture and knowing how to grow and keep food is one of the biggest.
4 comments:
Grandpa M would definitely agree with your comments about gardening. Obviously Patrick, who is hesitant to have soil come in contact with his hands, takes after Grandma Joan.
The garden sounds wonderful! There's nothing like fresh veggies from the garden.
The garden sounds wonderful! Your philosophy on gardening is great too. My local water company has a discount from April to August or Sept. for veg. gardeners. Is something like that available to you too?
Oh, I agree. A couple of my teammates for the 3-day walk are older ladies. One remembers the day when they made everything and very rarely went to the store for anything. Monday night during our walk we were all talking about how much knowledge most of society has lost. If we ever needed to survive without stores and cars and electricity for some reason, I don't think most people would fare too well (including me!).
How quickly you all got that garden put together! If we did that, the pile of dirt would be sitting in the driveway until it sprouted weedlings, and once we finally got it into the back yard, I would have lost the seeds.
I look forward to hearing about your garden's progress. Great to hear from you, btw! :)
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