Fresh Veggies. Yes PLEASE!!!

Many years when I started home schooling my boys, I decided to garden with them. We could spend hours outside in the garden seeing all the bugs and worms, learning about plants, and enjoying the benefits of all our hours there-eating healthy delicious vegetables and fruits from our garden. It was fun and and win-win for all of us!

Unfortunately, our house is surrounded by tall trees. That didn't work so well when you needed hours of daylight to make things grow. With a little research, about 15 years ago, I stumbled across the Pea Patch at Blueberry Park in Bremerton. 

This is an amazing community garden! You rent a plot which is really reasonable and it is yours to garden and tend for the year. You meet many other people who share your love of gardening. Even better, there are always Master Gardeners who are involved with the program, who are more than willing to share their knowledge and expertise. They do ask that you volunteer a minimum of 4 hours during the season to help keep up the general areas of the Pea Patch. The community usually has a seed swap, does a BBQ and/or also does something at the end of the year where you share a dish from things you have made from your garden. It really is a great, fun, little community.

My daughter went to the garden with me as a baby. She loved nasturtiums and would grab them and eat them. I used to joke with the other gardeners that when she grew up a boy was going to bring her a bouquet of roses and she would start eating them because . . .we eat flowers. Gardening is so peaceful! I have had some great talks with my kids while we are digging away and planting. I have shown them the benefits of their hard work. We have invited neighbors to join us in gardening. My kids have learned so much about growing their own food. However, probably the most important thing is that they have learned to love vegetables. One of my greatest joys is when one of my older kids bring their friends to the garden with us and tell them to try a pea because they are sweet, or to try a flower because it is spicy tasting. Some of my happiest days are ones that was spent in my garden with my kids!

I feel so blessed that our county has the space and offers it to our community. If you are interested, here is where to go for information. http://extension.wsu.edu/kitsap/gardening/