Why I let my kids grow their own veggies? We all know that it is easier to buy them in the groceries right? Sometimes it is cheaper and so easy to just pick it up ready from there and cook. Why then to grow it? It is actually part of my parenting. This blog will be a little long, hope you read it through and enjoy.
Before having kids, we live in an apartment in the centre of the city. In the 9th floor with a glass balcony. That means we are living in city life. When we became parents, the first thing we think about is the future daily life of our baby. What kind of environment they will be into.
A little story about my background. I grew up from a city but not the city centre. I grew up having a big yard. Trees everywhere, a river a few metres away, neighbours rice field about 500m and on the other side, also 500m away from the village road that goes to the city centre. See, I lived in the city but in the countryside life.
I grew up having used to pick up food from the yard. We have avocados, mangoes, coconuts, lemon, grapefruits and bananas everywhere among all the others. My dad’s hobby is planting root crops and vegetables while my mom is into flower gardening like roses and orchids. From childhood, I like experimenting by planting my own flowering plants or vegetables. I like watching how seeds grew into something useful. I play with my sibling in the yard full of freedom, freedom without fear of traffic.
That kind of life I wanted for my kids. To have own yard, be free and explore in the safe environment. We decided to sell the apartment and bought a house in this other smaller city. School and everything is walking distance. The main thing, they can have the freedom of having their own big playing yard, the backyard is for my own area. We have apple, cherry, berries and can plant vegetables too. Additionally, the green land next to ours which is owned by the city is a perfect place for playing football or anything outdoor activity during summer.
Springtime is the busiest time in the yard or in the garden. Cleaning the weeds and preparing the garden for planting. I am into organic gardening which I teach to my kids too. When I do the garden work, they are into their exploring adventure. They are searching for all possible insects, worms or anything interesting and asks thousands of question. Yes, they do! Why there is a worm, what they do, how they eat and so on. They are watching bees in the flowers and chasing butterflies. Lovely! Seeing them like this makes me smile, this is how I wanted them to be. To have this freedom that they will remember until they grow older.
When the garden is ready and the temperature is warm enough, I let them plant their veggies. Their favourite is planting potato, carrots and green peas. Why I let my kids grow their own veggies? The reason is simple. Here are the reasons why.
They learn where vegetables came from
Of course, there are books and can search on the internet if I want them just to learn things. To experience it for themselves and see that there is actually something happening in our backyard where vegetables are coming from seed until the harvesting stage is amazing. It is learning by doing.
They learn what it needs for something to grow
They become responsible, they know that vegetables need water and sun among others to grow. Sometimes it can be very dry summer and when they know it is going to rain, they start on their own preparing buckets for the rainwater not to be wasted. They collect for garden use.
They value more the vegetables
If they know we have the vegetables in the yard, they prefer to consume those first than buying. Sometimes they are already harvesting carrots and eat it right after washing. Freshly harvested organic snacks.
They have something to look forward in the garden.
Sometimes they can´t wait when can they start harvesting. This comes with the berries too. Like the strawberries, they planted three years ago, last year was an amazing harvest. When they know that it is ready. They check it every day to pick some.
Among all those reasons, the main reason is that I teach them to be responsible without telling them that. They learn how to be responsible on their own by taking caring of their own plants in the garden.
Do you have a garden too? Do you let your kids take part in planting and harvesting? You should and it is worth teaching them to have their own part in the garden. Thank you for reading!