Each year for Christmas, we like to give the kids a gift that will challenge them a bit, help them explore the world around them a bit more. One year it was a huge box of Lego blocks, another year it was a trampoline. Last year, it was flower pots and gardening gloves, and packets of seeds.
As a gift, it was a bit of a fail. I had the best time shopping for all the bits and pieces, then figuring out how to wrap it all up, but my enthusiasm ended there. Because I knew that within five minutes of opening the gift, the kids would want to plant the seeds. And I suck at gardening.
We've been down this path before. Back in 2012, I had the crazy idea of building a garden bed, and planting flowers and vegetables. The idea was that the kids would grow their own vegetables, and we'd have pretty flowers, and then the kids would want to actually eat the vegetables they'd grown.
But these beautiful plants that were lush and green and just ripe for picking confused us. What did we do next? How did we keep grasshoppers away? How did we know when it was ready to eat? In the end, we gave up. The grasshoppers got their way, and the caterpillars were well-fed that season!
But the idea of growing our own vegetables, and eventually convincing fussy children that vegetables are good things to eat, still niggles away at my brain. And maybe I'm getting old, but the idea of growing something with my own hands is appealing to me, too.
And with the help of this book from Kyrstie Barcak at A Fresh Legacy, I'm hoping we can actually grow something edible!
Launching this weekend at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, Kyrstie says the book
is based on the premise that by growing one thing, you gain momentum through the joy of your experience in producing and harvesting your own food, developing a new lifestyle and approach to food.
Grow Just One Thing document's Kyrstie's fresh food journey with her family, and shares tips for families wanting to start their own journey. With chapters on how to get started (grow one thing), seasonal planting guides (so helpful for Australia), and using the produce (why grow if you're not using it), I can see that this book will become a fantastic guide for us.
The book is available to purchase on Kyrstie's website for $AU24.95
Do you grow your own vegetables? How do you convince kids to eat vegetables?
Best wishes for successful growing this time around Cate. I am impressed with that garden bed you have. Thanks so much for reviewing my book.
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