Today I wanted to share with you some of the ways we are farming with the kids this year. Currently we have laying hens, broiler chickens and over 1,000 square foot garden on 2 acres. The two older kids each have a set of chickens to take care of and all four kids have a space in the garden. (If you haven’t seen part one of planting the kids garden spaces, here’s the video)
It was (mostly) fun planting the vegetable and flower seeds along with some tomato plants with them. By including the kids in growing and caring for the garden and chickens they are learning how much time and energy it takes to grow food. This is also a great way of teaching them responsibility.
Examples include, if you don’t water the garden when its dry, you won’t have anything to harvest because it will all dry up; if you don’t water and feed the chickens they will die and you won’t have any eggs or meat to eat.
Not all food needs to be bought from the store. As we seen in the last year with Covid and recently with the Cyberattack on a major meat supply company, the way we get our food can change really fast.
Luckily we have been able to expand our garden spaces over the last few years. We went from growing in a flower bed on the side of our rental house to having 2 acres (plus my in-laws farm) to grow a lot of food for our family. Each year we are learning more and trying to expand what we are growing. That way we don’t have to worry about the stores having enough for our family.
So why not try to plant a few tomatoes, grow some beans and flowers and have a few chickens for eggs? It can give your family an opportunity to work together on a common project and it will also give your family a chance to grow in many ways.
Some of the best conversations with the kids is when we are outside together. Everyone has a chance to openly talk (and laugh) without any distractions. It has been a wonderful experience for everyone.
I hope this encourages you to get outside and plant a few things with your family (or friends). Summer is almost here and the time for families (and community) is now 🙂
Until next time,
Julie