true leaves

Our first batch of lettuce developed its true leaves on Tuesday! It's exciting to watch our garden grow! By Thursday, we had lettuce sprouts all over in our second container, and the spinach sprouts really started showing up on Friday. It's been summer-hot this week, so the plants have been loving the sunshine and the warmth, soaking in the water and the sunshine.

I'm looking forward to the lettuce getting bigger so the kids will understand what it is that we are growing. Every day they are at school, we check our garden out, and we talk about how it's growing, and who makes it grow.

It's Growing!!!

L.F. came running to the gate yesterday, yelling, "it's growing! it's

growing!" Her enthusiasm for our garden makes everything worth it. :)

We planted some more seeds on Thursday... some more Romaine lettuce, and some other lettuce (the package doesn't say what kind... I'll do some research and find out), and spinach. All of it takes at least two months before harvest, but we should be able to enjoy a delicious salad by Christmastime! :)

Some of the kids are more into the planting than others. They're not all crazy about getting that dirty, even though I've been doing most of the dirty work for them. I let them rake the soil while i'm getting it all wet pre-planting, which they seem to enjoy. They take turns watering the plants too.

I still have plans to plant snap peas. If we have time on Tuesday, we'll get those in the ground and out in the sunshine!

I'm really excited about this garden. It's one of the highlights of this school year for me. I want to teach the kids about the different things that grow from seeds, how the plants grow, and how we can eat healthy by growing our own food. It's going to take a while for them to really understand, I think, mostly because, well, let's face it, they're three! Also, while some of them might have gardens at home, I don't know that all of them have vegetable or edible gardens.

When I was at a used book store the other week, I found this vintage book (1959) about growing seeds. It is typical vintage children's book--repetition nearing the point of annoyance for adult readers, but sheer joy and learning for children. My students talk in repetition anyways, so I think they'll love it! The little boy in the story plants all kinds of seeds (almost obsessively), but he can't get enough of it... I kind of feel the same way. I'm addicted. :)

Our first plants, the romaine lettuce we planted mid-September, is still growing nicely. I added a little more soil to the top, around the little seedlings, just so they won't get pulled up by anything. They're protected, but I don't want to take too many chances. I have bird netting over the containers to deter little fingers from poking around, as well as to deter from little critters doing the same. The little seedlings are growing though, and they make me smile with their happy little leaves.

This is good practice for me, because I really want to grow my own food someday... I mean, not just two small tomatoes and two wee peppers for the whole summer; I mean a full garden that will keep my family nourished! I also want the garden at school to be producing crops on a regular basis... Something the kids can all enjoy, and something that incorporates all the subjects we need to cover for early childhood education.

This school year has been an interesting one, but God is teaching me a lot. For example, perseverance, like a little plant, to push through the soil and seek after the sunshine. It's not easy. First you have to leave the protection of the seed, plant roots, and then determine which way is up, and find the sunshine. I don't always know what will be on the other side, but I do know I need to go through the hard parts in order to get there, and that the other side contains something I need, something that will make me whole, will help me grow, and will bring me closer to the Son. Perseverance, even when you don't want to persevere. Do more than just survive; Live.

Sometimes teaching is really hard. The kids don't always listen. They have their own agendas, and rarely do they coincide with yours. :) But I do know that there are special moments that God give us throughout the day/week/month that really help us and affirm us in our choice of ministry. I say "ministry" because that's exactly what teaching is... a ministry, a mission field. Little ones need to know about Jesus too... and how they can be a part of his Garden. :)

Sprouts!

Tuesday, the 27th, we had sprouts! They are little, but there are a few of them!

I wrote a note on our board telling the kids that our seeds had sprouted, and asked them to count how many sprouts they could see, and when L.F. came to school, after she was signed in, she came running up to me, yelling "They sprouted!!!" Her excitement made me so happy! The others didn't really notice so much, until we went out later to look in the planter to see how many plants were coming up. We counted six sprouts. :)

Sowing

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011, we officially started our garden. The first seeds we planted: romaine lettuce. I have never grown lettuce before, but I figured it would be a good plant to start with. The kids can eat it when it's grown, and I don't think it takes too long to grow.

I didn't have a lot of soil with me, so our planter is only half-full, but the kids helped me fill the planter, I poked 7 holes in the soil, and each one put a pinch of seeds in a hole, and then we buried the seeds and watered them.

As we planted, I talked to them about what a plant needs to grow: soil, water, and sun, and God uses all of that to make them grow!

The kids had a blast digging in the dirt. I'm anxious to plant our next seeds, but more than that, I'm anxious for these seeds to sprout. The seed packet says they will germinate in 5 days, which means next week, the kids should see some sprouts! So cool!