Gardening in the larger community

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee, And revery.
~ Emily Dickinson

Our UU congregation has been working on integrating our space with our values lately and one of our favourite projects has been turning a small patch of grass behind our building into a pollinator garden.
Last week the kids went out with some of our adult members to plant the garden. This week I was filling in for our children's program facilitator and we made concrete stepping stones and garden wish flags with the kids which we will install next week after they have cured and I have sewn the flags.  We also brought 3 of our painted lady butterflies which emerged this morning to set them free in the pollinator garden. The kids are hoping they will stay and make their home here.

Inspiration:
Garden wish flags - love this idea
Garden stepping stones tutorial

There are a few other projects I would love to do with the kids, either for the community plot or the UU garden.
Bee and Ladybug houses
Garden flowers
Pollinator Observer kits and cards
a mosaic bird bath

Morning in the garden

Morning is the best of all times in the garden. The sun is not yet hot. Sweet vapors rise from the earth. Night dew clings to the soil and makes plants glisten. Birds call to one another. Bees are already at work.”
~ William Longgood


So there isn't a lot happening in our garden plot at the moment - no bionic carrots leaping from the soil, no magical bean teepee appearing over night. It is a bit hard for the kids, who have really never gardened before, to get a sense about why we are spending our mornings watering dirt. There is a lot happening around us - beautiful flowers, phlox, and chives, borage and tiny yellow ones I haven't identified yet.

This week, with the bulk of our plot taken care of I turned towards some of the common community areas. I have started clearing out some of the raspberry patches and found a treasure of a giant but hidden rhubarb plant and a patch of mint under the thorns. I need to get a book for herbs to see if I can identify some of the other clumps that are healthy but inaccessible due to the thorns.  I have also been eyeing up a small space behind ours where I hope to be able to plant some wild flowers,  maybe Cosmos, Coreopsis, Echinacea, Wild Lupine and Bergamot.

In any case, I managed a small harvest of red raspberry leaves for tea and some mint to make minty lemonade for the kids. Soon I hope we will be bringing home a more substantial harvest after our morning visits.

Toes in the dirt

The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature.
To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul.
~ Alfred Austin

This was a gardening weekend for us - true to Canadian tradition. It was a lot of work, and a lot of dirt. Em and I spent a good chunk of Sunday in the garden center and then shoeless in the garden and I dragged everybody back for a mini workbee on Monday afternoon. We got the plot cleaned up, the strawberries and raspberries trimmed and transplanted, the beds laid out and what felt like a mountain of compost mixed in. We gathered enough rocks from the soil to make a small path between our beds.

Over the past few weeks I have been immersed in gardening books and blogs and I've been thinking about some of the things this new adventure is bringing to our family:  another way to connect with nature and honour the seasons; a deeper understanding of our food and where it comes from; a sense of responsibility and (hopefully) wonder and pride as they taste their first harvest; a new community - Em's already making friends with the neighbours; a new hobby for me and maybe some new goals.  I'm grateful for the growth in all its forms - the chance to dig our toes into the dirt and stretch at the same time.

Dreaming

A little garden in which to walk, and immensity in which to dream.
~ Unknown

We live in a wonderful neighbourhood with hundred year old maples that surround our house and line our street. It's cool and leafy...and very shady. So shady that gardening isn't really possible - at least not on our lot. And I have been dreaming about a little space where the kids could grow some vegetables and I could plant some herbs and tomatoes and maybe even a berry bush or two.

So today we met at our local community garden to see what plots may be available. We were foiled a bit by the weather and a communication glitch so we wandered and dreamt a bit more and then Em and I made our way to the garden centre where she spent some time dreaming about planning her own chef's herb garden.

Some links:
Kitchen Garden Planner
My Square Foot Garden