Growing your own ingredients

21 May 2012

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Several years ago the Attune Foods team built a vegetable garden in a local church to help the community grow and distribute their own fresh veggies. It was a great project and got me thinking about building a small garden in our own yard at home.

It wasn’t until my kids started to ask about growing our own real ingredients, however, that I began to act. My oldest child (13) started to design the garden and with his sister put together a list of materials and the crops that would grow best in our foggy climate.

Like any parent who is wary of short term enthusiasm for a project like this, I held off for a few weeks to see if they would persevere. And amazingly they did! Their excitement over having access to homegrown lettuce, carrots, rhubarb and pumpkins had captured their imagination. The power of real ingredients!

So two weeks ago we headed off to the lumber yard to buy the makings of two redwood beds that we hope will yield a bounty for years to come. We also made a trip to the Hayes Valley Farm Seed library, and took out seeds that we will return in the fall (from the best plants) so that others can plant. In addition to constructing the project, the kids have dutifully watered since planting and we now have the first sprouts of arugula, carrots and beans popping their heads from the soil.

The connection to the ground is fundamental and it seems that during the formative elementary school years, it is essential for kids to make the connection from plant to table. Then, hopefully, when they look at an ingredient list and see something that they don’t understand, they will ask questions. What is that? Where did it come from? And how was it made? Only then can we really understand and improve our nutrition!