Considering my CSA hands me this abundance and more every week, I have been asking myself whether my garden is worth all the effort. There's no way I can top the bounty of this local farmer.
But then I think back to my own childhood. We did not usually have a tilled garden space, but the yard had many fruit trees, bushes and perennials. I remember so vividly foraging in the yard for blueberries, plums, rhubarb, pears and more. With delight my siblings and I would find these edible gems and gobble them up.
Though eventually I would love to garden so productively that I could feed my family all summer long and into the year with my own labor, I'm not there yet. For now I think of it as a children's garden, a nibbler's place. A place to pluck a simple bouquet.
A space to find treasures among the weeds- a strawberry here, a sugar snap there. I love to watch the joy and satisfaction of my boy as he pulls carrots from the patch. 
I hope to plant seeds of love for the earth that my children can carry with them always.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
From the earth
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5 comments:
That you have done already Sabrina...yes look at that happy grin...and I love the idea of a nibbler's place...it truly does make the best memories. Mine too...a large and easily climbed mulberry tree was our very favourite playground as children...it was like a whole other world.
I love the image that comes to mind when I think of a "nibbler's place." (I think that phrase needs to figure in a children's book somewhere, it's so evocative!) Even as an adult there is nothing so thrilling as picking berries off a bush and popping them right in your mouth. Nature to tummy, no stops in between.
I also love your idea of a nibbler's place. I remember eating the green beans out of my fathers little patch. I do not have much luck getting our urban garden to produce, but mint and thyme grow happily and the girls love to nibble them. As you point out, it builds in them an affection for growing things. When they go to visit my parents, they love to find wild food (berries, seaweed, various field herbs.) It is a joyful thing to do and later to remember.
Lastly, I just have to say again that your pictures always make me happy.
Lovely poppies back atcha!
Yep, it's all about the nibbling. I'm grieving a bit that pea season is over...
I enjoyed reading your thoughts here so very much Sabrina! Such happy images come to mind when I think of a 'nibblers garden' as you described a strawberry here and a pea there those are certainly the memories I hope my children remember as well. And what powerful memories they are when they are able to harvest and forage on their own, pure joy! I love the photo of your son and his prized carrots!
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