How does your garden grow?

In our grand attempt to get the children more excited about eating their veggies we decided to plant a vegetable garden. We are lucky enough to have a wonderful neighbor next door who has lots of extra space in her garden and is letting us plant our veggies at her house. We didn't quite get around to the raised bed this year so Ms. Jerri is a Godsend!

Maddie and Chloe asked each of us what vegetables we like then made a list of the veggies they would like to grow. We took a trip to Harvey's, our local organic farm, consulted with Mr. Harvey himself and loaded up on some plants (maybe next year we will be on the ball enough to start from seeds). The kids were so excited to get digging in the garden. They loaded up the wagon with their supplies and off they went. I was excited that Jerri was around to guide us in the garden, I never knew how deep you have to plant a tomato plant.... a learning experience for all of us. Jerri was great!!! She had little ground stakes for labeling the plants... much better than the popsicle sticks I had brought. Maddie really enjoyed being in charge of writing each plant's name and I enjoyed watching her phonetically spell everything. Chloe was ready to get her hands dirty and somehow, everyone's hands but mine and Gracie's got really dirty - did I mention how happy I was that Jerri was there?! One of the most exciting moments for the girls was when Jerri gave them permission to come to the garden anytime they want...no need for her to be there, just come, keep an eye on the plants and enjoy the garden. Just this weekend the girls went over to pick some lettuce for our hamburgers - oh, and they both ate the lettuce too.... priceless.

Adam enjoyed throwing the ball to the dogs but perhaps his greatest enjoyment came from learning that Ms. Jerri has a special door, just his size I might add, for the dogs and possibly for him too (although mommy nixed that one right away).

Gracie getting some attention from Ms. Jerri and the dogs. Grace seemed fascinated with Montana and Montana with her.

So, hopefully at some point this summer we will have some yummy tomatoes and cucumbers to go with that lettuce and 3 children who learn to love not only growing their veggies but eating them too.

That's all for now. Much love,

Laura