Gardening with Children–A Great Summer Activity!
My friend Tricia and her family–husband Andy, children Julia, Nathan, and (twins) Ella and Ben–have gardened for three summers now. Earlier this year Julia and Nathan picked fresh strawberries to take to their teachers–wish I had a picture of that! But here’s Julia with a ripe red tomato from their very first garden.
Recently I came upon an article in the Cincinnati Enquirer by food columnist Rita Heikenfeld–“A Bible Garden for Children.” Rita writes about getting kids started gardening and suggests good plants for a first garden. Most important, though, are her tips for utilizing gardening with kids to help develop Christian faith.
Here’s the link to Rita’s article: http://cincinnati.com/blogs/cookingwithrita/2013/06/20/a-bible-garden-for-children/
If you’d like to find a good gardening book for children, try Gardening with Children, from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Happy gardening!
And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.” –Genesis 1:29 ESV
DIANE
Visit Diane at www.dianestortz.com © 2013, Diane Stortz
Great topic and article! Gardening is so dear to my husband’s and my own heart. He has done some gardening with children in the “projects” in our town in the past. So few children have a grasp of where food really comes from and the need to be able to grow food. We were making a pollination presentation at a school with Jr. high students when one student raised the question – why was pollination so important when you just go to the grocery store to buy vegetables?
Thanks, Diane, for sending folks to my site. Each week I talk with Brian Patrick of Sacred Heart Radio about Bible foods & herbs. This week we talked about mint, the Biblical history, etc. and I shared my favorite orzo salad with, of course, mint. Let me know if you’d like me to be a guest blogger. You and I have lots in common!
Blessings,
Rita Heikenfeld