as stocking stuffers, and seeds in Easter baskets. Start a potato nursery. Watch compost heat up. Befriend a farmer—in fact, elevate farmers to superhero status. If our children’s first thought when faced with a new plant in the garden is What parts can I eat?, then we’ve done our jobs of introducing them to the edible world and watering the thirsty roots of their confidence. And if they choose the red-enameled wheelbar- row over the glow of a computer screen, who are we to block their life’s path?

Alice stands silently in a tunnel of chamomile,

beans, and bleeding hearts at the back fence, watching the neighbor’s eight-year-old niece splash through a pool. To my surprise, she calls out “Hello!” and invites the girl into our garden through our shared gate. A full head and shoulders taller, the older girl must crouch to follow Alice through the maze of the straw-strewn path. Proudly Alice shows her the sugar peas first, snapping off a few to share. Our visitor, not recognizing the zipped-up canoe as having anything to do with the shriveled, boiled peas on her dinner plate, seems mystified at what to do with the pod. She hesitates, and watches in wonder as Alice simply eats the whole thing. The introductions continue, from strawberries and lettuces, potatoes and beets, to bean vines and squash flowers—a ritual as lengthy as introducing a new playmate to the residents of a toy chest. Finally, “Here is my sand- box and sprinkler”—and the girls play for a while, absentmindedly munching on green things. Awaiting their next chores, the red hoe and

shovel hang in the lilac bush, swaying in the sum- mer breeze like chimes, claiming the hour with their sturdy song.

For more on the benefits of a back-

yard garden, visit www.mothering.com/

links, and see the Web exclusive, “Rediscov- ering the Earth,” by Rachel Rose, as well as Nathan Boone’s “Te Good Earth,” for seed resources.

Kristin Berger, the mother of Alice (6) and James (3), lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband, Nicholas. She is the author of a chapbook of

poems, For the Willing

(Finishing Line Press, 2008), and writes essays about food, children, and everything in between. Visit her at

www.kristinberger. wordpress.com.

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