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As it’s Mother’s Day, I thought I’d write about the magic that happens when parents start bringing kids into their worlds. I’ve got a lot of kids. One in college, one about to graduate high school, and two so young that five am is considered sleeping in most days. They’re three and six, and still far too little to bring into my writing and the fantasy worlds I create.
But writing isn’t the only thing I do. I love to garden.
History
When I first started gardening, I was absolutely rotten at it. If you wanted a plant to die a slow death, sending it my way was a sure bet. It was never intentional, but I’d either give it more water than it needed, or invariably get so busy I’d forget it existed until the dirt and roots were as arid as the Sahara. I’m talking house plants, and to this day I still have none. Though part of the reason there is my three-year-old—he loves to destroy.
Nearly a decade ago, I was settling down more, the oldest was in junior high, and I wanted a vegetable garden. Once again, I was terrible at it. I fussed a little too much over the plants and they didn’t produce more than a few flowers. So my husband build me two beautiful raised beds, we filled them with soft soil, and I decided to give it one last whack with vegetables that grow almost like weeds in this state.
Garlic and onions.
I watered them a few times, got busy, then fall took a turn for the cold and all I wanted to do was bundle up in a blanket on the couch. I ignored the bulbs in the ground as it rained, snowed, stormed, sleeted, bears came on the property, then a mountain lion left tracks in the snow. The boxes did nothing. Then green pushed through the soil. By the time all of the Pacific Northwest was glaring the cold weather away, gorgeous green shoots were overflowing my boxes. I had more onions and garlic than I knew what to do with, but those two garden boxes fueled my passion for home-grown vegetables.
Gardening with kids
As today is Mother’s Day, there’s a part of me that would love nothing more than to spend this day not being a mom. My kids are crazy, chaotic, needy, and destructive. Basically… they’re exactly right on point for their ages. But I want to do something that’s fun for them. That will bring them into the world I love and maybe foster a love of home-grown in them.
So today, they’ll be going with mommy to pick up plants and soil. We’ll mow the back yard as it’s currently a jungle and I’m pretty sure raptors live in the grass. We’ll re-line our garden boxes with old tree logs, and plant our summer vegetable garden.
I haven’t decided on all the vegetables I’ll include, but at this moment one of the boxes is filled with old potatoes starting to sprout, so those will get covered with soil and left alone (potatoes grow great here). Another box has my attempt at red onion which I need to go pull out of the ground. But I have no doubt pumpkins, tomatoes and peppers will be included.
My kids absolutely love growing pumpkins. They were a huge hit last year, and I have no doubt they’d love them all over again. Plus, boiling them down into October to make pumpkin bread …who can resist?
Planning anything special with your kids today? Drop a note in the comments. I’d love to hear about it. 🙂
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