A garden is a school of Life!

(Warning: a post with a ton of cute children photos! Continue at your own risk!)

I was reading the other day a post by @jackjoe about children and gardening and this inspired me to post a gallery of our two kids playing and working in out new garden.

When we got the property and started creating the garden, our boy was 2 and a half years old. By the end of our first growing season in the new garden, our baby girls was born. Matter of fact, my wife (@bghandmade) dug whole morning for late season potatoes two days before going into labor... but I'll let her tell that story when she decides. So that new garden of ours is intertwined with our life and the lives of our children.

Newborn Katherina makes her first visit in the garden, not yet 10 days old.

Early next year she became a regular in the garden! Her big brother was bringing her carrot thinnings with the words "Here, have a baby carrot - it's baby size, for babies!" It took us many days to explain that his little sister still does not have teeth to chew on the carrot. That did not stop her at all! She just ate them whole, munching with delight with her baby gums, eating some of the leaves and an occasional fistful of soil as well!

She had a fine example:

A garden offers endless opportunities for games and lessons as well. We used every moment we could to teach the kids about plants, animals, life cycles, seasons, food, nature... It started with the all-important stepping on shovel lesson.

One of the best reasons to have a garden when kids a still small is teaching them about food. We've found out that kids are much more willing to eat what they pick themselves, especially so if picked in secret! Also, we've had chance to compare to other children that came to visit, whose mothers shook their heads "Nope, she won't eat any greens, or peas, or even carrots!

In just half an hour of playing together in the garden you can see the all the kids munching on carrots still covered in soil, sorrel leaves, and snapping Sugar Snap peas for a quick snack. And don't even get me started about tomato season!

Is there a happier child than the one that's just picked a sun-warmed tomato?!

What's more, presenting different work tasks as play helps the kids build confidence in their abilities and makes them feel valued and important, a contributing member of the family. Here, we're teaching our son - Darko (full name Bozhidar) - how to water the propagation bed. It's positioned under an elderberry (Sambucus Nigra) patch, so it's shaded, which really helps the assortment of cuttings, even if the watering is not optimal ;)

We later planted sorrel, mint and strawberries in that same spot and he referred to it as "my garden". It's amazing to see your child bringing his friends to see "his garden", naming plants, passing around mint leaves, beaming with pride!

It wasn't all work, of course! Kids always have plenty of time to play around in the garden, especially with mulch and water. And it's always a proper time to just stop and smell the roses. Well ok, daffodils!.

Interactions with animals, even those considered "pets", are also valuable lessons of care, affection and boundaries. Putting sunscreen on a cat - not the best of ideas!

You're black, so you must need plenty of sunscreen! No cats were harmed on that occasions, mainly thanks to the timely intervention of our boy who defused the situation with freshly picked asparagus.

Speaking of asparagus, I never liked it much until we started growing it in the garden. The same must be true for the kids, as they just munch it like crackers! And growing it is easy, contrary to popular belief.

Another thing that I find deeply inspiring is how quickly and easily children substitute play and work. Most tasks we give them as a test, they turn into a game and with the tiniest bit of help they manage superbly.

Baby girl managed to spill most of the seeds from that box and instead of shouting, we presented her with several cups. Each was to be filled with different type of seed. It kept her occupied for a good 40 minutes and in the end most of the seeds were properly sorted.

Earlier that same year her big brother planted 4 sqm of chickpeas in 5 rows, bordered on all sides with onion sets. And he generally does not like onions! But still enjoyed plating them at even spaces, when we used a toy car to set the spacing... What's more, the chickpeas he planted were shelled by himself the previous autumn, so it's a perfect demonstration of the circle of life.

When I was stacking some 50 bales for mulch, my boy was not of much use, as the bales are heavy. Still he found a way to entertain himself and still help me by constantly climbing up and down and inspecting the stack and notifying me of a loose bale that was moving too much. More importantly, he signaled whenever the cats were creeping on my sandwich, left at the table.

We call our kids "the carrot destroyers", as they do love carrots, especially those first thinnings we pull in May, just when the elderberry blooms. Those carrots are also grown from our own seeds. Collecting and observing them provided a valuable lesson in traits selection and varieties, as we have plenty of wild carrots around in the fields, whose seeds stick to clothes all the time.

Never missing a photo-op, baby girl is now 2 and a half and already babbles constantly about peas and strawberries. I love to pick some flowers at the end of the work day and that became our "thing" - her selecting the flowers and me cutting them and making a bouquet for mommy.

Her favorite bed was the one with salad tomatoes. She spent weeks and weeks selecting which will be the one we'll eat first and was somewhat surprised by our white and yellow heart varieties. Not red - not ready! she would protest and push her mother's hand away from the ripe tomatoes. This provided a nice opportunity to talk about varieties, differences and commonalities.

At almost 5 last summer, Darko was big enough to be trusted with a pair of clippers (but no running!). He also took the full responsibility and the heavy burden of eating the first peach ever given by our baby peach tree! His review: "How many peach trees do we have? Two won't be enough! We need to plant more! NOW!"

And thus we've reached last autumn, when my garden photos for the year conclude. The kids are resting and testing the small stone ledge/step we made to hold the soil of the future spring bulbs flower garden.

We're thankful for the amazing children we have and the abundant garden and mother Nature that never ceases to amaze - us as much as the kids!

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