Green Beans. Green Kids.

When I was little, my Meme had a patch of green beans right outside her back door.  She also had tomatoes and some herbs and a gorgeous garden full of flowers.  But it was the beans that remained in my mind.  We would go outside with her old plastic collander and pick beans, spending what seemed like forever snapping the ends off.  The novelty of pulling the beans from the plants and eating them at dinner that night never wore off for two little suburban girls.

It was the same thing when we would visit my Aunt Linda and Uncle Jim in California each summer.  They had a huge garden, I remember smelling rosemary for the first time there.  It was the simple lemon tree that stood out though.  We would choose the ripe lemons right off the tree, bring them inside, squeeze the juice and make gallons of lemonade.

With Finn, we do things like strawberry picking and apple picking.  Dave's parents have a large garden and have him help and I use that term loosely.  Mostly he goes out and theives raspberries from their bushes and shovels dirt and watches Grandpa use the tiller.  We pick up fresh produce at the farmer's market and grow herbs and tomatoes.  This year we added strawberry plants and a blueberry bush.  In a year or two, our little lime tree will produce fruit, though it will need to live inside with us in the winter. 

We also added green beans.  They are Finnegan's beans, a gift for his birthday from his friend Jackson.  He sewed the seeds in a little greenhouse-like tray, allowed them to grow for a couple weeks, then we planted them outside.

He has asked us approximately {and this is a conservative guesstimation} 1.5 million times when he could eat his beans over the last couple months... beginning about twelve seconds after they were planted.

Tonight, we were able to pick some and enjoy them for the first time.  The sheer pride on his face as we excitedly gushed about how he grew the beans and picked them, made the meal one of the best we've ever had.  We're looking forward to many many more through the summer.

Do you teach your children about gardening their own food?  I'm interested particularly for those who are in the city or suburbia where farming or growing a large garden might not be commonplace.