It has been a joy to eat out of our garden, and as we near the end of this year's production we are already thinking about next year. More than any of the children Peter has enjoyed tending to the plants and was independent in furthering his interest in gardening and self sufficiency.
One of the ideas he is most excited about is seed saving. He watched over an hour's worth of You tube videos on the subject and read about it in a few gardening magazines, I personally was not going to bother with it this year but he insisted. And since he insisted I pretty much let him do it himself.
One of our neighbors is a master gardener so when I told her of Peter's idea she invited us over and spent the afternoon teaching us about flowers and allowed us to collect seeds from them. I am overwhelmed with how much I want to learn and also very humbled by the knowledge and generosity that our kind neighbors offer. And to think I ever thought I might get bored and lonely living in the country!
Peter ended up with over 50 different types of seeds and is storing them in these mini envelopes that fit perfectly in the protective sheets for baseball cards. They are labeled and organized in a binder that will be stored in a plastic bag in our freezer (this idea he got from a You Tube video). The storage supplies we ordered on amazon and he was so excited about collecting as many seeds as he could that he even thought to save some from lambs quarter and yellow dock, I assured him they were already saving their own seeds in our soil.
Peter is hoping to collect some kale seeds because that was his best crop, he showed me the envelope that said "satisfaction guaranteed". He was so happy with the kale crop and not so happy that we had to eat it almost everyday. He likes to feed it to the goats but there is still much more to share. He also thought to set up a "kale stand" but wondered who his customers would be...........
I cannot say I am the most attentive gardener, another neighbor gave me a C- on my tomato crop and I accept that as an honest score. I will be honest also in saying that this year's garden experience was as magnificent as the weeds, there were some great successes and some even greater flops. All that aside I feel most satisfied with the opportunity I had to share this experience with my children and the witnessing of an 8 year old boy discover a hidden talent and the passion he now displays in pursuing it.
"Satisfaction Guaranteed" indeed.
p.s. do not leave the drying seeds out on the counter at night, it might attract the interest of mice!
Wow, i am so impressed that he did this by himself. Seed saving is something i have always wnted to do but it has just seemed overwhelming. Maybe next year ill have to give it a try, depending on how yours turns out!
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