know where your food comes from

A couple weeks ago we visited my flower gardens. May I now introduce you to the vegetable garden?

It is a small, little garden that suits us perfectly. It is all my husband & I need with some extra to share as well.

Bills dad was an amazing gardener. He grew much, and Polly, Bills mom, canned a goodly amount of food. His garden fed our family as well. He also grew enough for me to can tomatoes and beets. It was wonderful. I used to tell Grandad his garden should be featured in a Southern Living magazine. He taught me much.

I have noticed over these many years fewer and fewer vegetable gardens around our Valley homes. Three of our five children grow vegetables. They all are good gardeners. We have much to talk about around our growing seasons.

Sometimes I wonder if all the varieties of foods available in grocery store have spoiled our taste for the ordinary garden veggies? I have seriously been asked before how to cook fresh green beans.

Nothing, seriously nothing, from a grocery store tastes as good as homegrown. Don’t believe me? Plant a tomato, care for it, watch it grow and produce the best tasting tomatos you have ever eaten. It is likely you will never buy store-bought again.

Here is a neat thought: you grow tomatoes, ask your neighbor to container grow some green beans. Exchange your produce!

I grow lots of food for ‘free’. How? I plant potatoes that are sprouting in the pantry. I grow slips of sweet potatoes from those I have purchased at store. I let lettuce, dill, marigolds, and zinnias go to seed in the garden. They come up ‘volunteer’ next season. I save seeds from peas, beans, and limas.

Producing one’s own food is satisfying, great exercise, and gives one a good reason to talk to the neighbor! Working with the soil and nature–a beautiful art form.

Now, shall we take a stroll through my garden?

*Wood chips between the beds are free or cost nominally. Contact your local tree guy.*

*Lettuce grown from last years gone to seed. Delicious!*

*Soon to be a delicious tomato. This plant is a volunteer.*

*Volunteer marigolds grow all around the garden.*

*Sweet potato slips I started from the potato itself.*

*Volunteer green bean. Beautiful purple flower!*

Thank you for joining me. What is growing in your garden?

What a silly question you may be thinking. However, it may not be so silly after all. Years ago, while at a homeschooling convention in Richmond, VA, my friend and I noticed an excited bunch of folks gathering outside the mall in the courtyard. We asked the food service fella what it was all about. He said there was a milk cow out there for folks to see! Really? All that excitement over a milk cow? How odd we thought. Everyone knows what a milk cow looks like, right? Actually, no.

A lot of years have gone by since that day. It seems a milk cow is not the only thing folks think comes from Costco, the local grocery store, or farmer’s markets. So here is another insight into our lack of food source knowledge:

Beef does not come from food markets either. Neither does chicken, pork, lamb, duck, or fish. Or anything for that matter.

This seems like a no-brainer to the majority of us. But please do not ask a youngster if chocolate milk comes from a cow!

This is not to say we all should have our own milk cows or grow our own beef. However, we would do well to remember that all these grocery store items and meats are grown with care (mostly) by many farmers. However, growing a few vegetables regardless of home location is rewarding, not to mention delicious.

All this comes to my mind today because our Herefords went to the slaughter house two days to be processed. It is one of the hardest times on the farm for me. Death is hard but it is a part of life.

Why not visit your local farms? Many farms are open to visitors. It is fascinating to experience a working dairy, or cattle farm. Have your child help gather eggs with the local egg lady. A summer spent working on one of the farms would have a lasting impression on anyone. Donning a pair of muck boots and getting down and dirty on the farm gives everyone an appreciation for the farmer that works to bring us all this good food.

Our children need to know where our food comes from. It helps us understand the hardships of growing food and feeding this big country of ours. Perhaps, just perhaps, we would cease being so wasteful and careless with our sustenance.

You are welcome to stop by our little farm and meet these critters that live here. Hold a chicken, pick a bean from the garden, toss some hay out to the animals, take a tractor ride, sit on some sweet smelling hay. You and your kids will be glad you did!