Adventures in Gardening
Posted at 10:48 am on August 10, 2009 by Farrah
This is the next post in our new series on Feeding our Family. If there is a specific idea or post topic you would like to read about as part of this series, e-mail us at dupagemamas(at)gmail(dot)com.
Some friends and I are sharing a garden this summer in her backyard. And while it was very fun to plant the seeds and get our hands in some fresh dirt, it has been a little more difficult than I expected to get over there and do my fair share of work. Ideally, I want this to be an experience I could share with my 3yr.old- something we could do together and a tangible lesson of sorts. But in the reality of life with a toddler and a baby this summer, we have slacked a bit in our gardening effort. We have been a couple times to do some weeding or watering and once to harvest potatoes. I have found, though, that I get WAY more actual garden work done if the kids are not there. And finding time without kids during the light hours that are suitable for gardening has been tough. 
Regardless of the challenges, I did manage to get over there the other day to water and harvest some of the fruits of our someone else’s labor. I was AMAZED at how much it looked like A GARDEN!! There was green plants and the early signs of vegetables everywhere. I felt this small sense of personal pride, like I had a part (albeit a small one) in making this garden grow.
I got in there, got my hands (and feet and pants and shirt) dirty and dug up some potatoes. And although the yield was modest, it was still like a form of therapy for my soul to dig from the earth some food for my family that I had a part in growing. I felt like I was actually doing something healthy for my family. And isn’t that what we all strive for- to make decisions and purchases that best cater to the health and well-being of our families?
So while my gardening experience so far hasn’t turned out exactly how I had hoped
, I have a renewed drive to get back there more and claim my piece of this soul-refreshing vege therapy. One more little tidbit about my gardening experience- I spent so much time watering and digging up vegetables that I ran out of time for my usual evening task of feeding my family. I had hungry boys at home and it was late so I ironically fed my family fast food on the night I worked in my garden. 
Kinda pathetic. See, the challenges. But we will be eating the potatoes tonight so maybe that makes up for it.
Do you have a garden? What are some of the decisions and purchases that you have made that make you feel good about the health of your family? We would love to hear about it! Email us your thoughts or guest blog post to dupagemamas(at)gmail(dot)com.
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