Working the dirt.

About a month ago, I posted about prepping my garden beds. And about a week and a half ago, I planted some seeds and some small plants in the beds. My hope is that I'll get a bunch of veggies this summer to eat fresh out of the garden. My bigger hope is that I'll get enough to can a little bit so that we can enjoy our garden even in the dead of winter.

This year is the first year I've planted directly in the bed. Usually I start seeds inside, but with chasing Adelaide around, time just flew by and before I knew it, March was knocking. (And know it's already mid-April, holy cow!) So we just planted right into the soil. So far, nothing's coming up but a TON of little weeds, thanks to all the fun helicopter seeds that keep floating down. Hopefully I'll see a few little seedlings soon. Otherwise, I'm taking a trip to the garden store and buying more plants that are already started, like the 2 tomato and 2 pepper that I've already got in the bed growing.

If everything goes well, I'll have 7 tomatoes, 4 bell pepper, 3 basil, some green onions, and some garlic chives. I've also got some pots on the porch, as well as this 4'x8' bed.

Adelaide helped me plant, after playing her "tummy drum."











Nursing break.







She now helps me water the garden most nights. She either a) grabs the hose and wiggles it around to get all the plants, sometimes rather enthusiastically so we get the grass too, or b) sticks her hand in the spray, which inadvertently gets me wet too. Either way, she's having fun.




It's important to me to have Adelaide be a part of this. I want her to know where food really comes from. I want her to know that it's okay, and fun, to get dirty. I want her to look forward to spending time with Mother Nature and watching tiny little seeds sprout big vegetables that we're able to enjoy. Just as with painting, you are never to young to teach your children about the things you are passionate about. I may not be the best at gardening, but I am very interested to eating as real and healthy as I can (never mind the chips I downed last night... I do have my weaknesses). It's my job as a parent to pass on the skills and interests to my little one, and let her soak up what she will.

P.S. I know that in some of my posts my house is gray, and this one it looks yellow. Well, we are in the middle of a 2-3 year painting project, haha. It was yellow when we first moved in, and now it's halfway the gray that I love. The front and sides are pretty much done, but the back... well. You can see.