Food Roots: Teaching our Children
Posted on | July 22, 2009 | 3 Comments
Kids and corn grow fast. Thankfully, the corn grows faster. I snapped this pick of my dear daughter standing next to the corn she planted with her own hands about 6 weeks ago. She’s so proud of her corn, and so excited that it’s getting taller than she is!
As a child, I can’t say I really had the benefit of fully understanding the “seed-to-table” concept. Tomatoes came in a can, spinach was a frozen mass in the shape of a square, and lettuce was white, and came sealed in cellophane from the grocery store. It wasn’t until I was older, and spent time at my grandparents’ house, that I actually saw how things grew from plants.
Food from plants. I get that. I get that apples fall from trees and that celery stalks are edible. But the missing piece always involved getting the seed to grow into something fruitful.
It’s exciting that now, after many months of hard work and cultivation in our maritime region, we are finally starting to see the fruits of our labors. Lettuce and zucchini abound, as well as broccoli and beets. These dear plants that my sweet daughter spent many-a rainy afternoon patiently “helping” me plant into egg cartons– and watering in the “greenhouse” each day, are finally producing something recognizable as food!
There are so many ways for children to participate in the process of growing things. This past year, my daughter has “incidentally” learned that vegetable scraps get fed to the worms, who eat what we don’t, and then make a stinky mess of things that mommy gets so excited about putting into her garden. Compost. The smelly stuff that makes our food healthier; how ironic. My daughter loves to feed the “wiggle worms”, to plant seeds, and I love that I can tell her “go outside and pick a handful of parsley” and she knows exactly what I’m talking about.
As of late there’s been quite a bit of buzz about “nature deficit disorder” among adults and kids alike. As I type this, in fact, I’m cloistered inside a darkish living room while the sun vibrantly shines upon the outside world. (Jonny, my 2-year-old is napping, to justify). At any rate, we are natural beings who need more outdoor time among nature, and it’s amazing to see the multitude of ways in which children can be taught by the natural world.
As an educator, I am keenly aware of “teachable moments”, and integration of subject matters. Planting seeds provides so many of such moments. Counting and sorting seeds provide arithmetic practice. I always have my daughter write (or at least trace) the names of each seed on each egg carton or 4″ pot that we plant. She loves to create and decorate “plant tags”, which are still proudly announcing where the radishes and carrots grow to this day. I can’t think of a better kindergarten curriculum!
No matter what our personal gardening expertise, (and mine is very much “trial and error”) we can learn alongside our children, and hopefully give them a greater respect for the work involved in producing food. Moreover, we can allow them to experience the wonder and almost magical aspect of taking something so small and inexpensive, and with water, food, light, heat, patience, and a lot of God’s grace— food is made.
This blog post appears on this week’s Food Roots at Nourishing Days.
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July 22nd, 2009 @ 11:53 pm
Great Post!!! I love gardening!
July 24th, 2009 @ 1:32 pm
What a great post. This has been one of the biggest blessings of growing herbs and vegetables. Our almost 3 year old *loves* it. He even has his own dill pot. While I hang laundry he likes to water it. A lot. I made a comment once about how it probably wouldn’t make it because he was drowning it. I think his dill is doing better than mine :/.
Thanks for participating in food roots, Carrie. Always nice to have you “around”.
July 24th, 2009 @ 9:48 pm
That’s amazing corn. I wish we had the heat that would grow such tall stalks. Learning alongside my children in the garden – soil, microbes, animals, botany, ecosystems etc… is the best part of being outdoors. Being excited because everything is new and exciting for them!
PS. Came over from nourishing roots