Gardening with the kids can be fun, stressful, amazing, and chaotic all at once. I’d say most things with kids can be like that. However, there’s room for all of it! Gardening with kids for us has happened in little bite sized chunks over the years, since my now 9 year old was about 2. Our first family garden, aka Granny’s garden, was in our front yard on a busy street, in MA. It was named for my Mother-in-Law (MIL) who was the one who primarily wanted it, after she took care of it and planned it all out.
My husband would take the kids out to the garden when my MIL came over to work on it. The kids loved it! I was an anxious mess. My husband and MIL spent a lot of their lives in the country, on family farms. Remember, I was a city girl up until about 2 years ago. For me, a garden with bugs, dirt, and nearby traffic just boggled my mind. Why would anyone want that? As a kid, everything came from the store. I had absolutely no connection to where my food came from.
Change of location, change of mindset!
Living in Idaho this past year has changed for me in so many ways. I think most would say in all of the best ways. When it comes to gardening with the kids I no longer need to worry about the traffic. Now, the garden is set back away from the road and there’s plenty of room for the kids to run around here too. The bugs are just different here, or again maybe I’m just different here. Also, if the kids are outside at all, they are covered in dirt anyway and loving it. So, I have accepted the dirt. I have redefined clean to include some amount of mud and dirt somewhere in the house, on someone or something, most of the time. I am very much looking forward to our future garage and mud room to catch some of it!
That little front yard garden in MA is now a 50ft X 115ft vegetable garden in Idaho. Last year we built raised beds, put down gravel, and followed my MIL’s lead on planting. So, we planted rows of corn, and dug holes for potatoes. The raised beds were filled with plants and seeds. My husband set up a system that used an app for watering. This made that task easier when one of us couldn’t be out there with the hose for an hour. Summers are hot and dry here! The kids helped with planting and watered the plants, us, and each other with the hose! As the vegetables grew even the dog enjoyed the bounty of the garden. He stole green beans right off the plant! It was a family project and that felt great, hard, but great!
Actually looking forward to gardening with the kids.
This year, the kids each want their own little spot in the garden. They have chosen vegetables that they want to plant and take care of. Maybe they will even eat some of this year. A mom can hope! They approach the garden with such wonder and excitement. It warms my heart! Additionally, I feel like I have been learning from them, to take it in, enjoy the work, and rewards. Last year watching their wonder and awe as the vegetables grew bigger each time they visited Granny’s garden was priceless. Personally, I’m looking forward to pumpkins, beans, pear tomatoes, squash, corn, potatoes, and excessive amounts of zucchini. I’m even looking forward to the dirt, sweat and really connecting to where at least some of our food is coming from.
One thing that was missing from the garden last year was a fence. We have deer, elk and moose that come onto the property. So, at least an 8ft fence is needed! We lost peppers, tomatoes, squash, and melons last summer. They were very happy and well fed deer, elk and moose! My incredible husband is busy thinking about this year’s infrastructure. I am so grateful that his beautiful brain can plan it all out and build it! We are both intelligent and creative people whose gifts and skills truly compliment each other.
Feeling Capable
Now, I feel capable, more so than I ever have. I feel like my kids are capable too. These last two years they have grown, matured (somewhat HA!), and shown such resilience with all of the changes. They can now be involved in many of the aspects of life out here. At this point I feel that gardening with the kids can be enjoyed by all of us without my freaking out from anxiety. Well, now I guess I need to stay real here. We can do this with less of me freaking out from anxiety. I’m a work in progress!
At this point, gardening with the kids has changed from something I dreaded the thought of, to something that I am truly looking forward to. My MIL will continue to take the lead but now I feel that it is a way to connect with her, our family as a whole, and our food. This summer I plan to post recipes for the sauces, breads, muffins, and meals that we make with our home grown veggies. Watch for a future post series titled, “Home Grown Cooking,” in the Small Scale Homesteading section.
Keep it simple and fun!
- Kids love having their own tools!
- Don’t have the space? Try a window garden!
- Make room for creativity!
- Get excited! Plan meals and things to bake with the kids!
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