Category Archives: Gardening

For the Love of Nature

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We all want our children to love nature, right? Well the first step in that process is to love nature ourselves! Little ones love to sit and watch nature, so it’s important to give them time to do so.

They love to sit and watch the dandelion gently blowing in the breeze, or listen to the bees buzzing in the flowers…

…they enjoy the gifts of nature like the dirt and stones or the the tiny sunflower picked just for them…

…they will even find the faint moon high in the sky in the light of the day.

We can help cultivate this love for nature, not by over-talking or trying to teach about it, ruining its beauty with our over intellectualized adult point of view, but by observing its wonder and beauty ourselves. Only children really understand the glory of nature with their unspoiled youth and fresh perspective. It is not us that has something to teach our children about nature, but our children who will teach us.

Autumn’s Eve: Sharing the Joy of the Season With Our Children

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I LOVE AUTUMN! I find that this is one of the most active and vibrant times of the year, more so than the lazy, hot summer or quiet and gently blossoming spring. IN the fall we have the wind and rain and leaves flying all about; we have the fascinating decay of the plants we have nourished over the past year; and we have the dusk coming closer and closer to our days, slowly wrapping us in quiet security. I LOVE sharing this time with children! There are SO MANY great folk songs, cooking activities and projects that we can share with even the littlest of people!

We all know about the common festivals of Autumn, but there are more than you think. As the season goes on, I will be posting about these specific festivals, but first I want to mention Michealmas Time! Just after the Equinox (on the 22nd this year) Michealmas time comes to us on the 29th of September. Your local Waldorf School will most likely have Michealmas Festivals open to the public and I urge you to go. As shared on the Parenting Passageway: “Michaelmas is an autumn festival that to me really opens up the season for the awakening of our souls as the weather gets colder, the light recedes, and we look toward strengthening our own inner reserves, our own inner strength. Michaelmas, as you can probably guess, is named for Saint Michael.  Michael was one of the four archangels, and is the angel who threw Lucifer out of Heaven.  He is the Angel of Courage, the Angel of the Fight Against Evil.  Take courage for the long, cold winter from Saint Michael!” To me, this is a time to focus deeply on my inner work and share in the strength building activities with our friends and family. This is a time for meditating, writing poetry, dancing and sharing the joy of Autumn with our children. These heart-warming activities will build our joy reserves for the harsh winter and Michealmas Day is a time to remember out work for this time.

There are so many great Autumn activities we can share with our children. Meditation and Inner work is not something we do WITH children, it is something we do for our children as a spiritually strong parent is essential. provides a good foundation for their own strength. On The Magic Onions Blog, I have found a treasure chest full of brilliant ways to share the joy of Autumn with your little ones. Here you will see great books to read, lovely nature table decor, finger games and songs and recipes to make with our children. Here’s a poem that she shares with us to share with our children, I find it lovely!

October gave a party;

The leaves by hundreds came -

The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,

And leaves of every name.

The Sunshine spread a carpet,

And everything was grand,

Miss Weather led the dancing,

Professor Wind the band.

~George Cooper, “October’s Party”

I would love to hear your thoughts on how to you celebrate this season, as you can never have enough ideas in your pocket on how to bring the joy of mother nature to your children.

Children LOVE Veggies Straight from the Vine!

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There are few things as wonderful as a child’s belly full of fresh peas straight from the vine or a face covered in fresh picked strawberry juice. Gardening with your children creates wonderful memories and I am so happy that this year, my garden will have a little visitor that will much away on anything he can get his hands on(dirt and rocks included). I have made sure that this year I’m growing the vegetables that he can and will eat plenty of and that dangerous vegetables are far from his reach.

Great Veggies for Fresh Snacking

Snap and Snow Peas and Pole Beans – These are great because little hands can only reach so high so there are some left for the rest of the family

Shelling Peas – These are a bit trickier to eat than soft peas, but super fun! They take more time to get to so your crop won’t take such a big hit from busy mouths.

Lettuce and spinach – There are so many varieties to choose from and it comes back quickly. It’s also easy on the tummy so eating an abundance won’t be a problem.

Broccoli – So fun to pick these little bursts of flowers. If you live in an area where you will have aphids, then they will even get some protein. ;)

Strawberries – There is debate about whether children under the age of one should eat strawberries, though we will try them with our son as soon as we have a good crop. (about 11 months)

!Plants to Avoid!

Rhubarb

All Nightshade Varieties – Tomatoes, Potatoes and Peppers

These are plants that have poisonious leaves. So unless your child is of an age where you know they will only eat the safe part (I would personally wait until 4 or 5) then best to keep them in a part of the yard where your little one doesn’t play.

In addition to fresh veggies eaten right off the plants, most children will eat up anything they pick fro the garden. They become so connected to the plants when they see the entire process. Instead of just A squash, it becomes THEIR squash. What are YOUR favorite veggies to grow in your garden?

Gardening: Safe dirt and plants for little ones curious mouths.

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This morning, despite the wind and cold, all I can think about is my garden. There is so much good work to be done this time of year. Turning over my winter cover crop, setting out my garden plan and planting early cold resistant peas and carrots. But what about my child, what can I do with a little leaf and dirt eating machine right by my side? Gardening is a dirty job and I don’t want that little sweet little face covered in dirt. Or do I?

Here in this article you can read about how dirt is actually great for your children! Dirt, sand, dog hair, dust etc. “Several groups in the United Kingdom, including Parents Outloud and Allergy UK, believe that the research proves that children are being overprotected from germs and that exposure to elements like dirt and sand is a good thing for them.”

However there are some dangers to gardening that you will want to watch out for before you give your little one free reign:

Lead in the dirt: If your house was built before 1978, it’s possible that your home was painted with lead paint and there may be some residue left in your soil. Not good for your kids and not good for your veggies as well. You can have your soil tested by a local lead poisoning prevention program or in Seattle, Environix can do the job.

Unsafe plants: There are some common plants and vegetables in the garden that may be harmful. Some may surprise you, like potato and tomato leaves. Here is a list of things to keep away from your young children that love to eat every little thing in their path. There are plenty of wonderful, safe plants they can eat though and I make sure my son is by these plants.

Raccoon and Cat Feces: I for one, know that a cat uses my garden as litter box, so I will be putting up a little fence for my little crawler. But I have a garden box that is free of cats and he plays in this one, worry free for me. It’s a matter of knowing your garden, if you know wild animals go in there, then perhaps redirect your child to a different area to play in.

If in the end, you truly do not feel comfortable letting your baby or toddler play in the garden, you can purchase a little outdoor play yard that your child can play in while you work. Then they are within your comfort zone and they still get the benefit of fresh air and watching you work.

Once you have made sure that your garden is indeed safe for children, the work in doing so will be well worth it. Aside from the benefits of being dirty, there are other great, lifelong benefits to gardening with your children. Exercise and social time as well as learning to love food and veggies! What a better way to have love for your food than watching it grow; waiting in anticipation for that little green shoot to turn into leaves, then flowers and finally sweet delicious peas to nibble on.