Summer Blog Challenge: Days 51 and 52

I missed yesterday, but since my answers are related, I thought I would combine two questions into one post today.

Yesterday's Challenge: Talk about a free activity to do with the kids. 


Today's Challenge: Share a gardening tip.

Today's Bounty

Guess what activity I love to do with the kids? Gardening! I love working in my garden and that love trickles down. The kids see that joy and want to be a part of it! My daughter spent her own money on potted herbs at the local organic farmer's market. She bought them one at a time. She also bought seeds and planted her own sunflowers. She didn't do a great job of keeping up with her own plants,  but she loves to sit with me and pull weeds or pick tomatoes, peppers, whatever is ready. The point here is that she found she didn't have the motivation to do gardening on her own. It just wasn't fun then. But when I get out in the garden, she loves to be by my side and help with whatever I'm doing. She dug the holes by hand when we moved the strawberry plants this spring. She shoveled grass when we starting digging a new garden. Just today, she eagerly picked tomatoes from the garden and then joined me for some fresh sliced tomatoes in the kitchen. Not only is gardening fun for the kids as long as they are doing it with them, they are learning skills that will stick with them for life! I learned all I know about gardening from helping my parents and aunts with their gardens as a child. My kids have also learned (and love) to shuck corn and shell beans. When I was young, that job was reserved for the kids. They parked us on chairs under a shade tree near the garden and brought us what they picked. We had a hose to wash whatever needed washing and bins to put clean, shucked, shelled, ready to go to the kitchen veggies into. I have passed on that tradition to my children. Which brings us fully around to today's challenge: a gardening tip. My tip is to get the kids involved! They may be able to help more than you think, saving yourself some work while providing them with a meaningful activity!