kids in the garden

My one-year-old loves to be outside; she will bring me her shoes, insist I put them on her feet, and then point out the window with eager exclamations (no clear words yet). She doesn't like it when I have to put her in the bouncy because the grass is wet with dew

she'd much rather be able to explore!

One of the main reasons I started gardening was because I wanted my kids to know that food grows on plants, not grocery store shelves. The baby knows this well already. She will point to the Pea plants and say "nguh!" her sound for I want to eat that! and if I give her pea pods split open she'll pick out the peas herself to eat them.

This morning she pulled Chard leaves off the plants, happily tore some up

and then munched on the ends of stalks like it was celery.

But most of all she loves the Strawberries. She knows where they grow and if left to her own devices will head over to the little strawberry patch and look for her own strawberries to eat. She eats as many unripe ones as red ones, so sometimes needs a little help picking!

The berries are almost done so it took quite some looking for my older daughter to find a ripe one.