By Carie Moore
What will be on your table this summer? No doubt you will be busy with BBQs, reunions and camping. But what about some fresh vegetables from your own garden? Gardening is a great way for your family to spend time together. And now is the time to start planning your garden and picking out which plants to get and grow. Gardening can be a stress reliever, and is educational. Kids can do a majority of it on their own; weed, water, and see the “fruits of their labor.”
The options to garden are endless these days: Container gardens, raised gardens, bale and pallet gardening, no-till gardening. No matter what space you have or what you want to grow, there is a means to do it.
I must admit, I am NOT a gardener! My garden is a 40-acre field. Go big or go home, right? I’m the gal who starts a pumpkin patch to educate kids about farming and then realizes I can’t grow pumpkins! Between the land we have where they need to grow, my black thumb, and me ticking off the farmers who need water to spray, but they must wait behind me as I fill my water truck for “just pumpkins,” we decided to support another family who loved to grow them but not sell them. Perfect small-town business partnerships come in all forms.
The pumpkin patch allowed my kids to not only learn gardening but business skills as well. They learned what is profitable and how valuable time is for something that’s not working versus getting it elsewhere. Growing food isn’t easy, which is why most of us buy our food instead of raise cows and corn.
As we enjoy the fresh air this summer, take the opportunity to grow some of your own food! Get a few chicks, a few seeds, and see the joys (and some of the struggles) your farmers experience, but on a much bigger scale. It will be a great family bonding experience. Enjoy your food and your family even more this year knowing you did it together.