lessons from the garden

I’ve been planting a garden for the last 4 years!  I really miss living in our condo in the city in so many ways, but our large garden is one of the things I love about living out in the country with lots of land all around.  Each year has been a learning process for me, and I love making changes each year to improve and make our garden more practical and efficient for our family’s needs.  I also love having more than we need so when friends and family stop in there is always plenty to share when they go back home!

This year we got the garden in a little earlier than usual, and I also had two sweet little helpers who were so excited to dig in the dirt and plant seeds!  Onions seemed to be their favorite thing to plant, and while I feel like this year I laid out the garden more organized than ever before, I have a feeling we may find onions popping up all over the place.

So 2 weeks ago the garden went in. It took hours to prepare the ground, lay out the rows, and put the plants in the ground. I went out to the garden this morning, like I always do, and I realized every kind of plant we planted is up out of the ground!  I love this time of year, watching things grow, and I love even more how my little guy joins me every morning with a little shovel, working hard to make sure his onion plants are growing. This year I’ve reflected a lot on what we can teach our kids and learn as a family from our garden.  While I feel like this list could really be long, there were a few things that stood out to me.

1. Hard work pays off.  Gardening is not always an easy job, and it certainly requires a lot of time.  But, for me knowing what we are growing for our family and knowing that our vegetables for the summer and even into fall and winter, will come from our own land is worth all the effort.
2. Patience is hard to learn, but is an important part of life.  I sure wish that I could go out and pick beans for dinner tomorrow night or dig up a hill of potatoes for breakfast next weekend, but growing plants takes time, and waiting with patience is just part of the process.
3. Some of the best foods to eat come from plants.  We live in a world where there are so many processed foods.  I find it nearly impossible to avoid them completely, but I love teaching our kids where the best foods come from by making them a part of every meal.

It’s only the beginning of June. Over the next few months the plants will continue to grow, and soon they will be making their way to our tables for meals!  I love that such a simple thing like a garden can teach our family so much.