More time on your hands
Picking Tomatoes
Backyard farming is more than just a great thing for the Earth... it's also an amazing learning experience. Gardening is truly a family affair. We have talked about gardening with our kids. Lately we have mostly been pulling weeds, picking the occasional basil leaf for dinner, or watching ladybugs eating the aphids off some of our leaves. The past week we have actually had some "fun" plants to work with. Our tomatoes are huge! Just a few weekends ago, I had to go purchase 10 foot stakes to keep them up. When thinking about what to write about today I thought about the great pleasure of watching my little one in the gardening process. She tried to first pick the nice little yellow flowers that sprung from the green mass (just for a sniff). Then it was an attempt (and sometimes success) of picking the small little green balls off as an afternoon snack. Lastly, she would try to get the orange, peach-sized tomato want-a-bes when I was not looking. To actually let her pick the tomatoes and eat them right off the vine (knowing that she was completely safe) was something amazing. Seeing her face when I told her it was finally OK to pick our harvest was a gift. I know the benefits of eating organic, and even eating local. I write about it often; I learn more about it daily. I have to say, however, that there's definitely something about eating so local it's out of your own backyard and so organic that you know for a fact (with or without USDA stamps or stickers) that nothing but dirt, sun, water, and the occasional oil/Dr. Bronner's/ water mixture went into your food. From the world of Oreos as a child, this is definitely something of a change. I am so grateful that my child does not ask for Oreos, but she reaches for fresh produce (tomatoes from home, right now). So as the summer progresses please share your harvesting stories with us. If you don't have a garden this year, go to your local farmer's market or community garden and watch some amazing kids reaping the benefits of truly living (in the) green!
CommentsPost a commentYou must be a registered user to post comments. |
Save & Share
Related Articles |
Usiku commented, on July 16, 2008 at 12:35 a.m.:
So far from the backyard: Spinach and salad greens for a salad my son and I ate. Cherry tomatoes that ripen at random so I just eat them one by one, one of my favorite rewards. There is nothing like the exquisite taste of a tomatoe right off the vine. A picked a green onion or two because I couldn't wait. Cabbage and sweet banana peppers went well in a mostly veggie stir fry. Cabbage is very forgiving of low nutrient soil. You have to plant a ton of green beans in order to get enough at any point in time for a meal, I'm just now relearning this. I've learned to share with the birds and bugs but the squirrel keeps digging in and around plants especially new areas and stole my avocado seed. The bird whose nest is on the neighbor's downspout watches me and each time I water with the sprinkler, this birds goes to harvest and bathe. We're getting used to each other.