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Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder: Idea Five

Gardening and Beyond

Planting

To a gardener, even a part-time, just for the fun of it gardener, there is nothing so enthralling as poring through a seed catalog to plan the next planting venture. There are a million kinds of tomato seed, carrots, and…wowzers, you could plant elephant garlic.

Then preparing the soil and planting the seed is a lot of work, but it sure is fun. Your little garden looks pristine, all the rows even and weed-free. Even the first two weeks after planting when you water carefully and look for the first signs of seedlings poking their beautiful heads out of the soil are filled with anticipation and garden love.

Then, if you’re like me, you sort of forget about it. The seedlings turn into plants and they need to be thinned. You water and weed, but it’s a long time until you’re going to reap any harvest. Then the weeds grow in earnest. Not so much fun.

Don’t give up.

Take Part in the Harvest

Finally it’s time to pick some tomatoes and dig some carrots. The difficult part may be that when it’s time to harvest, summer is nearly over and most of us get back to a school routine that leads into winter and the holidays. We’re busy.

Don’t give up.

Take time to enter into the harvest with your kids. Learn to dry fruit or fruit leather and can or freeze applesauce. Pick the corn and the zucchini. Make zucchini bread, eat one of the green beauties as a veggie and then give the rest away to unsuspecting friends. (All gardeners do this). You might even make the effort to collect seed for the following year’s planting. Onion seed and beans are easy to gather and save for another year. You’ll encourage your kids to experience the entire life cycle from seed to plant and back again.

Beyond the Harvest

If your family really wants to experience the joy of  harvesting food, you might want to explore local food co-ops, gleaners programs and food banks. It’s a sad truth that in the richest nation in the world, there are many, many families without enough healthy food to eat.

Food co-ops are a great place to both give and receive. Membership usually requires some volunteer time to pick up, ready for distribution and then help to give out portions of food items. Co-ops usually stock food items in bulk and encourage minimal packaging. They are based on belief systems that value self-help, responsibility and caring for the community. They’re great places to learn.

Gleaners programs abound in areas where food is grown. Gleaners have permission from growers to enter fields to pick up produce that has fallen to the ground or is left after the harvest. Literally tons of food is saved and used that would otherwise go to waste.

Food banks exist to feed the hungry in a community. They are often run by city or county governmental agencies. They rely on local volunteers to operate. Some food banks offer meals to the poor along with distribution of food boxes. Some of these programs also deliver food to local shut-ins.

Our children need to understand where their food comes from. They’ll enjoy getting their hands dirty. What better way than to grow some food themselves and take part in larger community projects which deal with the responsible distribution of food to local families.