with some shovels. One memorable aſternoon, Ethan and a handful of other gardeners’ kids dragged out the hose and got knee-deep in compost “soup.” Tis enrichment activity required a full change of cloth- ing in the greenhouse before I would let my son into our car.
Unlike any little plot we
might have scratched out in our own backyard,
the community garden was on a grander scale that Ethan found arresting—
like Disneyland, but
with cauliflower.
Ethan was fascinated by
what was coming up out of the earth. Unlike any little plot we might have scratched out in our own backyard, the community garden was on a grander scale that Ethan found arresting—like Disneyland, but with cauliflower. We marveled at how last week’s little green threads of pea vines had tripled in length in
the strengthening sun, how we could almost see them twining before our eyes. “Is that how broccoli grows?” asked Ethan as we observed the little forest coming to life in the next bed.
“I thought it grew underground,” I mused, demonstrat- ing once again my need for constant supervision by competent green-thumbed adults. One morning, Krista found a tomato bug, its back encrusted with another species’ white eggs—a horror-movie symbiosis that the assembled kids found fascinating. “Gross!” they shouted in chorus, leaning in eagerly for a closer look. Tere was a natural tension between the tender young
plants we husbanded and our tender young kids, who would have loved to wantonly stomp through the for- mer in pursuit of a butterfly. One solution we found was to offer the kids a plot of their own. In one corner a gardener named Willow, oſten accompanied by her own toddler and preschooler, helped the kids plant and tend a children’s garden—a fanciful mishmash where towering sunflowers shared space with little broc- coli trees; cherry tomatoes, small and sweet as candy, drooped from lanky bushes; and a ceramic skunk stood sentry. Lavender, mint, and other herbs offered the gar- den’s kids, from toddlers to ’tweens, a playground for the nose. “Tis smells weird—but in a good way,” said Ethan, rubbing some cilantro leaves between his fingers. Using children as apprentices for specific gardening
tasks also proved valuable. One morning, a group of adults wielded pointy and slightly dangerous pitch- forks as we dug up potatoes. To keep them out of the line of fire, we tasked a handful of gardeners’ kids with fingering through the exposed roots to find the round
potatoes and toss them into the harvest pile, a job they took to with zeal. “I found one shaped like Santa!” shouted one, and we speculated on the princely sum it might fetch on eBay. As I leaned on a pitchfork, sweat beading my brow, I thought about how, in other cul- tures and times, this—taking on even young children as junior partners in important jobs—was how parent- ing worked, before the modern division of labor turned us into chauffeurs and referees of screen time.
community gardens—all varieties
Cooperative gardens are nothing new—think of World War II’s famous Vic- tory Gardens. Today, however, the exploding interests in organic and locally grown foods are helping community gardens sprout up faster than lettuce after Mother’s Day. All community gardens are made up of members who come together
to grow food in a shared space—beyond that, there are as many variet- ies as there are heirloom tomatoes. Like the one our family joined, some are cooperative endeavors that charge a small annual fee (we paid $25) and require a certain amount of work each week (in our case, three hours’ worth) throughout the growing season—planting seeds, mulching, picking. In return, participants get a regular share of the garden’s entire harvest. These sorts of organiz ations can be a good choice for people who have little or no gardening experience—novices can benefit from the guidance of more seasoned growers. Other community gardens are patchworks of small, individual plots in
which participants grow whatever they like. These are often popular with city dwellers who don’t have room for a garden in the backyard—or who don’t have a yard at all. But all community gardens emphasize community— beautifying public spaces, providing exercise and education, encourag- ing neighbors to meet each other over the broccoli patch. Some have programs expressly designed to involve children. The American Community Gardening Association can help you locate a
community garden in your area, or point you to resources to help you start one from scratch:
http://communitygarden.org.
—Jennifer King Lindley
May–June 2010 |
mothering.com
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