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Entry bubble Organic Gardening – Do It for Your Kids

By: Joanne | March 18, 2008 | Category: Home and Family

Bailey shows off the strawberry harvestAs you’re planning your garden this year, consider going organic. It’s easier than you think. It’s as easy as NOT applying chemical pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers on your food.

Why have organic gardens? There are many reasons; the one that is dearest to me is for my kids. Nobody needs to ingest pesticide residues, and that is especially true for children who are going through critical stages of development. We hear so many claims that kids don’t want to eat fruits and vegetables, but when you give them a chance to wander through the strawberry patch and pick their own berries and then eat them – perfectly ripe and still warm from the sun – yum! The fact is, they beg for more. Many times we’ve picked up our baskets, picked peas and then moved under a shady tree to shell and eat sweet, raw peas straight from the garden. As a mom I know that I can hardly give my children a more nutritious (and easy to prepare!) lunch than that.

The people that owned the property before us had horses, so let’s just say that I’ve been blessed with an ample supply of organic fertilizer, and we augment that with our compost. I bet I’ve had an organic garden for over 10 years now, and I have to tell you that I never felt like I needed the chemicals. Give it a try, for your health, the health of your kids and for the good of the soil and water.

| Comments [6] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: compost   fruit   garden   joanne   organic   vegetable  

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With soaring food prices, my wife and I plan to greatly expand our garden this year. Organic is a good idea, but I have never had much luck with stuff like Murpheys Oil soap to kill pests. There has to be a better way.

Posted by Citizen Jmaximus on March 18, 2008 at 08:09 AM EDT #

Citizen Jmaximus, I agree - food prices have jumped so high, that I hope I can save a few dollars by growing my own produce too. As far as managing pests go, I don't really bother with them and they don't do much damage. We've got so many toads, praying mantids, ladybugs, and bats around that maybe they keep the bugs in check. Beneficial insects and insect predators are one way to control the bad bugs, companion planting is another strategy, most garden centers now carry insect control products approved for organic gardening, and I bet your local library has books on organic gardening practices that can help you find a more effective method of controlling the bugs in your garden.

Posted by Joanne on March 18, 2008 at 09:39 AM EDT #

CUTE picture!

Posted by Sarita on March 18, 2008 at 04:10 PM EDT #

Joanne,
That is a TON of strawberries! What did you do with them all??
They look delish!
sommer

Posted by Sommer on March 20, 2008 at 09:08 AM EDT #

That was a good year, and was what we picked just one day! We stuffed ourselves and our friends full of fresh strawberries, then we made jam, chocolate covered strawberries, strawberry pie, spinach and strawberry salad, strawberry shortcake, strawberry wine, strawberry juice and froze a bunch too. You can freeze them and use them for smoothies later in the year! The harvest won't be that great this year, but we're working on the patch this spring to get our production up again. I think I should set a table up next to the road and have the girls sell fresh strawberries to pay for college. Now then we'd need A LOT of strawberries : )

Posted by Joanne on March 20, 2008 at 09:40 AM EDT #

It is great to teach your kids good habbits while they are young. Great article.

Shawn A Hearn

Posted by Shawn A Hearn on March 23, 2008 at 01:55 PM EDT #

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