It’s wet.  The kids would be swimming in the mud if allowed.  Due to the amount of rain, the opportunity to till our garden hasn’t presented itself.  As the rain continues to fall, the rivers and my anxiety level seem to be rising.  It was announced yesterday that the current outlook for planting is around June 1st.  This news caused a little concern about getting some of our seeds into the ground.  Fortunately, our field corn is planted as is our wildlife food plot, strawberry plants, blueberry bush and grape vine.  We also started the tomato and pepper plants indoors 2-3 weeks ago.  Although everything is growing strong, the rest of the garden remains in packets.  At the same time my energetic boys have been quite antsy to be playing outside. I thought we would try a new activity by planting some of the peas which would normally go directly into the ground.  My husband is skeptical about the outcome since planting peas indoors is a bit non-typical.

Since Earth Day was last week I wanted to continue our ‘Green’ celebration.  Re-using some plastic pudding cups, water bottles and an ice cream dish we began our experiment outside on the front porch.  As the drizzle fell we filled each container with some potting soil and following the directions on the seed packet, poked holes about 3/4 of an inch deep.  Taking turns, the boys dropped their seeds and covered each hole.  The final step was watering.  Even though there was plenty falling from the sky, they took turns giving each container a nice drink of water.

All three boys helped fill the containers out of our soil bin.

The little guy is carrying the filled containers back to our planting area.

Making a hole 3/4 of an inch deep for the seeds.

Taking turns, they each place a seed in at least one container.

Finally, the watering...not that Mother Nature couldn't do that for us.

It was a great activity teaching a rainbow of skills such as sharing, teamwork and respecting the environment by re-using the containers.  I’m not sure that it’s lowered my anxiety, but it did get the kids outside and busy.  I look forward to watching the kids care for the plants and learning more about being self-sufficient with healthy foods.  If the experiment works we hope to also attempt planting some pumpkins, sweet snap peas and green beans.  Watch for upcoming posts about our gardening adventures!

Please keep all of those affected by the floods in your thoughts and prayers!

(This post written by Jenny from The Magic FarmHouse.)