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Subject: Market Farming
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- From: Alex McGregor <waldenfarm AT sprintmail.com>
- To: market farming <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
- Subject: Re: Kids in the garden, re: Spring
- Date: Wed, 07 Feb 2001 17:49:24 -0500
Jacqueline,
I'm getting in late on this- we went to a home schooling group meeting today.
But, I
thought I would add our experiences.
I converted from a family gardener to a market gardener when our daughter was
2 years
old. My wife is a massage therapist and supports my "habit" (farming), so is
away a lot
during the day and some nights. This left me with expanding our growing area
while
being the primary child care person.
Luckily Rowan has been fascinated by nature since she first discovered the
outdoors.
And she LOVES water. When she was 2, I filled a 5 gal. bucket with water and
she danced
out of her diaper and played in it for hours. Later, she insisted on filling
the bucket
herself. *Don't do this- it may be a drowning hazard* <=== Legal Disclaimer.
As a toddler, she roamed the garden and explored plants, bugs and found
unique sticks
and rocks. I built a sand box, but she wasn't interested- spent her time
digging in
soil with my trowel. I took frequent breaks and sat under an apple tree with
her and we
drank water and had mini-picnics with peanuts or fruit. And her favorite
thing was to
sneak up on me with a cup of water on a hot day and let me have it! Squeals
of delight
as she ran away and I yelled, "You dirty rat!," while squirting her with a
hose.
From the early days (age 2) she would help with the light work-
transplanting, watering
new plants (her favorite), washing vegies... Now she helps harvest and wash
and I pay
her for her time. She now has an idea of selling "Flower Bouquet of the
Week" to
neighbors and delivering.
I never made her work, just let her help with what she enjoyed as long as she
liked and
tried to make it fun. I think this is why she is still happy to help. To
summarize-
include your children in the real life things and you don't have to
"entertain" them.
Also, working on family income projects is a REAL learning experience.
Instead of
"gardening" as time spent home schooling, we wrote down Biology, Chemistry,
Geometry,
Math, Meteorology...
And it sounds like a fence is needed in your situation- for the kids safety
and your
peace of mind. I suggest a perimeter fence to fence them into the garden,
rather than a
small one to fence them out. It's all in our perspective.
Good luck, and keep on home schooling!
Alex McGregor
Walden Farm
-
Re: Kids in the garden, re: Spring
, (continued)
- Re: Kids in the garden, re: Spring, Chapman-Dale, 02/07/2001
- Re: Kids in the garden, re: Spring, Brian and Jacqueline Potzkai, 02/07/2001
- Re: Kids in the garden, re: Spring, Brian and Jacqueline Potzkai, 02/07/2001
- Re: Kids in the garden, re: Spring, Brian and Jacqueline Potzkai, 02/07/2001
- Re: Kids in the garden, re: Spring, Sue, 02/07/2001
- Re: Kids in the garden, re: Spring, Brian and Jacqueline Potzkai, 02/07/2001
- Re: Kids in the garden, re: Spring, David & Crystal, 02/07/2001
- Re: Kids in the garden, re: Spring, Brian and Jacqueline Potzkai, 02/07/2001
- Re: Kids in the garden, re: Spring, Sue, 02/07/2001
- Re: Kids in the garden, re: Spring, Brian and Jacqueline Potzkai, 02/07/2001
- Re: Kids in the garden, re: Spring, Alex McGregor, 02/07/2001
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