Our kids are disconnected to nature and food, some times all they know about chicken is chicken nuggets! Their brain doesn't in vision the chicken when it was alive, or the whole chicken after slaughter, some times all they know about berries is a fruit strip not the fact that berries are whole fruits grown and picked from bushes.
This disconnection makes it harder for kids to imagine themselves eating a broccoli or celery stick! Getting them back in connection with earth, planting and the source of food makes them very more likely to eat it.
Each spring me and my girls start a small garden, we start by going together to the store and picking a few seeds, they pick some flour, greens, fruits what ever they would like,
sometimes, I also got a pack of certified organic seeds, we pick our organic soil, planting gloves, shovels and all the tools needed to plant.
You can plant it according to your space their are many ideas to plant in just a small balcony or even just on your door front, you can plant in pots or vertical walls, just about any where can be used to grow some food! if you have a garden, a raised bed would be the way to go, fill it up with organic potting soil and top it with compost, you can get a kit to make your raised bed with different desgins or you can make a cheap one by going to homedepot and picking some wood and nailing it togather for under 15$.
Getting your kids to put a seed, see it grow and harvest it, is a fool proof way to let them eat what ever it is they planted! So if you struggle with kale or spinach go out there and get a pot, soil and some seeds! you won't imagine the happiness and excitement they will have to try what they have grown.
This year we wanted to do our starts at home, so I got a fairly cheap indoor green house, we spread a plastic sheet on the the floor, filled our pots with potting soil, added water and then I let each one pick which seeds that want to plant and label them.
To add extra fun to it, we decided to leave notes on the labels, and as we were planting on a very special day this year after a loved family member had just returned home, the girls enjoyed writing him love messages and notes, it was a fun time for all the family and the kids will work on watering and taking care of their seeds, eventually harvesting and eating it!
it's important to know when to plant indoor and when to start moving your plants outdoor, this differs from area to anther depending on the weather, you can use this calendar and look up your area by zip code.
Don't forget to harden your plants before moving them outside too, plants started inside get used to the mild temperature and lack of direct sunlight, they are very weak, shocking them outside suddenly will most probably kill them.
Steps for Hardening your seedlings :
1- Take your seedlings to a protected location outside for one hour for the first day
2- Do this each day for a week. Add one hour for each day of the process. By the end of the week, you’ll be at 7 hours and the plants will be ready to be transplanted
3- Provide them with shelter, Don’t put them in direct sun, keep them away from wind, they are still babies.
