The Gardener's Code

This week at Dirt to Dinner, the kids spent some time discussing the way they’d like things to go in the garden. The first thing that came up was about respecting things that other people have grown in the garden, which I thought showed that the kids really are developing the sense of ownership that we had hoped they would have for the garden and the plants that they tend here. With meetings happening only every other week, we didn’t know how that feeling would develop but are glad to see that it has. The second point was originally discussed more in terms of “You kill it, you eat it,” which took responsibility for the space here, and by extension the world around us, to an uncomfortably visceral point there for a moment, before it spoftened into, “Eat what you pick.”

I think it was really fun for the kids “signing” the code with thumb prints of mud. But I did notice that we’ll need to review the picking code the next time the kids are here. Several young broccoli plants mysteriously lost all their broccles before they were ready while the crew was working on the nearby planting bed. ;-) At least we can hope they got eaten!