Veggie Picking

This week, we headed out to an organic farm with our homeschool support group. We were the first family to arrive, and they put our children right to work, gathering tools and supplies!

Once the rest of our group was there, we all headed out to the fields to taste various plants and herbs, right out of the ground. We were given mint, celery, rosemary and many others to sample.

I must admit that I am not very knowledgeable in the gardening department, and so if I were walking through a field such as the one above, I would not be able to recognize what is edible and what is not. We were taught to use not only our sense of sight, but also our sense of smell to identify the various plants.

Next, we went over to some of the vegetable rows and the children weeded the garden. Since this was an organic garden, no pesticides or chemicals are ever used.

After some weeding, the kids went over the the chicken coop and fed the chickens some of the weeds they had picked.

We then ventured into the greenhouse where the farmers taught us all about how a greenhouse works, and why it is important to start off the little plants in a greenhouse and then plant them in the ground.

The kids were able to see several samples of different types of seeds. They even were able to make their own little seed pots out of rolled up newspaper and take them home to plant in our own garden!

Next, it was over to the composting area where the children learned about composting and what materials are good or bad for a compost pile. They were able to shred some newspaper into the bin as well.

The kids were getting hungry after all the fresh air and so they went out into the lettuce field and were able to gather some lettuce to make salad for everyone to eat. The salad was absolutely delicious- so fresh and tasty!

The entire group really enjoyed this trip and we learned so much about seeds, composting, and organic gardening. Now if I could just get something, ANYTHING to grow at our house...