Gardening with Kiddos

So now your garden is up and growing right? I've been having fun growing things and learning how to garden with a toddler. The American Community Gardening Association is a great resource for ideas. I've included some of their thoughts as well as my own...

• Let kids enjoy the process of gardening without worrying so much about the end result. I know this can be rough because you put a lot of work into it. We've had quite a few squished strawberries because 2 yr old feet have strayed off the garden path but my little one has loved picking and eating strawberries in her own way and I've loved watching. It may be that the only thing you grow is a gardener :).
• Go through seed catalog, pick seeds based on plants that look appealing to your kids. Maybe try a new, exotic plant each year (we tried peanuts a few years back and it was really fun and surprising to see how peanuts grow).
• My daughter loves planting seeds. She doesn't really think much about them after they're in the ground (and sometimes I go back and pick them up later) but she loves poking holes in the soil, dropping in the seeds and burying them.
• Let your kids help you problem solve, is there a bug eating your crops? Send your child out to investigate and see what he/she can find out. Here are a few questions to get them started: What kind of holes does it make in the leaves? Does it leave a trail of any sort? Do you notice any webs nearby? Can you think of a way to try to catch the culprit? Is the damage enough that we need to worry about it? Let your kids feel invested in the problem solving process (be it disease, malnutrition or bugs) and the solution.
• Try relinquishing a section of the garden where your kids can plant/tend/harvest however they'd like. If they're old enough, encourage them to have a garden journal to jot down observations or draw pictures of their garden. They can also measure plants, tracking their growth and counting their yield through the season,
  
• One of my friends sends her kids out to pick bugs off the plants.
• Research and grow some edible flowers
• Let your child select some colorful flowers to plant in with your vegetables. They'll help attract bees.
• Plant a Sweet 100 Cherry Tomato plant and let your kids pick and eat to their hearts content.
• Target has some decent children's gardening tools in the dollar spot. It's always easier to work with tools that are the right size.
• Make a teepee out of a pole bean or a vining plant. Use bamboo stakes to form the teepee and then plant around the outside and help the vining plant to trellis up. Use this as a novel focal point in your garden or a fun hideout.
• If you're using containers, let your kids paint/decorate the pots.
• Make vegetable markers. There are SO many ideas out there for creative plant markers or let your kids come up with something themselves.
• Plant seeds in a pattern, a shape, your child's initial, etc.
• Get a seedling tray and a seed packet and let your little one see how many seedlings he/she can get to grow. I've heard that people actually get paid based on their germination rate (the percentage of seedlings that sprout from the seeds planted).
• I find that my daughter can manage better if we can keep our garden maintenance fairly short in duration. Our max is about 10 minutes. Sometimes that means we're out there 2 or 3 times a day but it's enjoyable for both of us. The weeds will still be there for me to pick tomorrow :).
• We're gonna get dirty. And it's good.
• Make leaf prints, seed collages, dry flowers, garden portraits, bug profiles.
• Facilitate, try not to micromanage too much. This is hard for me but I'm working on it.
• And if you really want to go the extra miles, after an activity, do something to reinforce what everyone has learned. Talk about what went on, who did what, who saw what.

I have looked forward to gardening with my little girl for a long time and though our days out there aren't always perfect, I think I will look back on our time in the garden as some of our happiest moments.

What kinds of things have you done with your kids?

Chocolate Chip Cookies by Shaina

I shared these cookies with my home girls at volleyball last week and got hit up for the recipe. This recipe is from my amazing friend, Shaina, in Colorado and because I am completely computer illiterate I don't know how to say click here for the recipe and have a nice little link to take you there. So, I copy and pasted it (sorry Shaina) for you to enjoy. As a side note, you can visit Shaina's website at http://just-because-i-am-me.blogspot.com/ for more fabulous recipes. You can also buy her cookbook with more scrum-didly-umptious recipes, which proceeds go to help cover the cost of her precious little baby's heart surgeries. There is a link on her page. So, without further ado, here's the recipe in Shaina's words.

Original Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

(otherwise titled: The most fantastic chocolate chip cookie ever!)

.

In your mixer, combine 2 cups of shortening, 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, 1 1/2 cups white sugar, 2 tsp vanilla, and 1 tsp water. Then, beat in 4 eggs.

.

Add in 2 tsp of salt and 2 tsp of baking soda. Mix. Then add in 4 1/2 cups of flour. Mix in a bag of chocolate chips. (optional: 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans) ((The dough will be soft and creamy. Don't add more flour. Really.)

.

Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.

.

Ok, now here's where I get serious about the instructions. If you are using a pampered chef baking stone to cook these cookies (like I show in the picture), it might take an extra few minutes of cooking time for the first batch. The cookies should be just slightly light brown when you remove them from the oven, and whether or not you use the baking stone, LET THE COOKIES COOL DOWN 10 MINUTES BEFORE YOU REMOVE THEM FROM THE PAN! That is so important! If you try to remove them right away, they will fall apart into a mushy heap, and it won't be pretty.

.

If you forget my instructions, and remove them right away, and say "What was she thinking? These came off just fine" I'll let you know right now, that you overcooked the cookies, and that those cookies are going to be so hard and crumbly when they cool down; they won't taste good at all. Trust me on this. You want them BARELY light brown. Take those babies out and you'll have cookie perfection in a matter of minutes.

.

If you are like most of my friends, you'll prefer the cookie dough. When I make this recipe, because it makes a lot, I usually form the dough into cookie balls, line them on my big baking sheet, and freeze them for a few hours, until I can remove them from the pan and place them all in a double lined Ziploc bag. Whenever I want to make cookies, I just get out the selected amount, put them on my baking stone, and bake away. Or...I hand out the bags of cookie dough to friends, who usually eat them up before they even make it to the baking pan. It really is THE BEST cookie dough I've ever had, and before I ever made these, I was not a fan of cookie dough. These little chocolate chip blessings changed my life (and my hip size!).

.

So once again, if you still aren't convinced that this is the best recipe ever, then I would just suggest that you try them. I believe I'll change your mind. If you like mint chocolate chips, or peanut butter chips, or other combinations of goodness, then feel free to tweak the add-ins for this recipe. It's a great base recipe for whatever cookie catches your fancy.