There is one particular gardening season that stands out in my mind when I was a child.  That year in our little plot my mom planted corn, green beans, tomatoes, etc.  The main thing that I remember her planting was zucchini.  I remember my dad telling us that we needed to pray over the garden and ask God to bless it.  In our childlike faith we prayed expecting God to bless it and he most certainly did!  That was the greenest, healthiest looking garden I think I have ever seen even to this day.  Everything grew and that little garden plot produced and produced and produced, even though many of our neighbors did not have any success with their gardens at all that year.  I remember my mom canning and canning and then when she couldn’t take any more, she gave and gave and gave the produce away!  I remember the zucchini  because it was absolutely huge! It was the first time I was introduced to this shiny green vegetable and we ate so much zucchini bread that year I was sick of it!  I still do not care much for zucchini bread!  As I grew older and remembered that year, I never really had a desire for tending a garden of any sort. (Of course, now I realize that my mom did 99.9% of all the work)  But now as an adult, it has somehow become a lifelong goal of mine to learn how to garden and preserve its produce.  I’m not quite sure where the switch came, but non the less, I am excited about gardening.  The biggest obstacle for me at this point is taking the time, especially when it comes to harvest time.  (Miriam was a July baby and Hannah is due in July also this year!!)  So for the last few years Aaron has tilled a garden plot, we have planted it, he has harvested, and I have worked in getting the produce used up.    Each year we learn a little more and it is so fun to watch the things grow that you have planted from seed.

   In our regular garden, that gets bigger every year, we have corn, onions, green beans, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, etc.  New to us for this year , Aaron is working on making some fun raised garden boxes, and have planted lettuce for the first time this spring! 

When finished, our garden boxes will have our tomatoes, squash, zucchini, and I would love to find someplace to plant cantaloupe!  That was my favorite new thing from last year!  They were so yummy! We also added a new flower bed around our mailbox that we finished up last night! So pretty!We are so excited to be expanding our garden and trying new things this year. 

This year I thought it would be fun to include the kids in on it.  Isaac always wants to “help” us do anything we will let him around the house.   When I saw that Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations was offering a free Garden Preschool Pack, I thought, this is perfect for our Tot School for the next month or so.  Plus we are working on the letter “Gg” so what better word to go with it then “garden”!   Along with this fun preschool pack, the Homeschool Village is offering a fun Garden Challenge with a link-up, which encourages teaching your children about gardening.  So, in the works for the coming month in Tot School, we will be working through our Garden Preschool Pack,  making a garden themed sensory bin (my mind is already swirling with possibilities!), having a family fun night, and having the kids by our side as we water and tend to the garden.  (I so wish I had my camera with me while we were working on the new flower bed and planting the garden.  The kids were very much involved and loved every minute of it!)  I am so excited about this, even though I know the kids will mostly be excited about playing in the dirt,  but hey, we have to start somewhere, right?