The Payne Family Garden - Step 1

I think planting a garden is one of those activities you will not find very many homeschooling families missing out on.  The exercise of carefully planning ahead, then planting, caring for, then harvesting and finally consuming or gifting to others is so packed with learning opportunities that I believe it carves some of the greatest "forever" memories in children's hearts and minds.

I vividly remember being sent on trips to my grandmother's garden nearly every day around supper time to fetch a little of this herb and a little of that one to complete what she had going on the big pot on the stove.   I remember the summer us kids got so sick from the massive amounts of mangoes we picked and ate from the backyard tree and how miserable it was to have to take turns to use the one bathroom in the house.  So good going in... SO-NOT-GOOD coming out.  I also remember that sad summer when the acerola tree got sick and had to be cut.  We mourned that loss like a death in the family.  We were never the same... but then in came the lemon tree in its place and the following summer will always be remembered as the one my cousins and I were perpetually drunk on sugary lemonade enjoyed inside a blanket and broomstick tent out in the front yard in steaming 98 degree weather. I remember the giant avocados we couldn't eat fast enough, the guanabanas, the miniature bananas, the multicolor peppers and the list goes on.  The lessons we learned over what was harvested in our grandmothers backyard were invaluable. 

We started talking about our garden here at our house last week when our copy of The Backyard Homestead arrived in the mail.  We have all been excitedly devouring this book every night as we dream and plan.  As the title implies, the book doesn't only teach about gardening but about producing all the food a family needs including meat, dairy and condiments.  The word Homestead or Homesteading has gone from referring to a small holding farm with a farmer's residence to a lifestyle of self-sufficiency such as that shown on the Duggar's Family TV show.  I am sure I'm not the only suburban modern woman with dreams of running a little farming household with that kind of efficiency and grace.  For now though, I'll have to keep dreaming and just stick to keeping a little beginner's garden.  We'll file the pigs, chicken and caddle under "adventures for a later time".

The book is packed with pictures which is good since it's been Lucy's bedtime reading every night for the last few nights.  She wakes up every morning asking if it's spring time yet... bless her sweet heart!  She's ready to get started.

This week we have spent some time with her making a list of veggies we want to grow, looking and studying seeds and scoping out the area in our backyard where the garden will be going in.  Next step is  building the raised beds, choosing a name for our garden and making a banner to hang by it and decorate it with (an idea we got from our friend Leslie).   Will keep you posted on our progress!!