For those of you who are still experiencing winter weather, just stop reading now.  I don’t want to torture you.

It’s already growing season in Austin.  About a month ago, my kids and I cleaned up our raised bed and got it ready for the Spring planting.  Then we organized our seeds and starters, laying them out in the garden bed to make sure we had room for everything.  (We’ve learned from past years when we’ve been cramming things in to not ideal spaces in the bed.)  Finally, I let them go to work making small rows and hills and planting the seeds.

It’s been more than three weeks since we planted the seeds, and already we have pea vines crawling up a frame, squash vines starting to wind toward the edge of the bed, and flower buds on the tomato plants.  Unfortunately, we also have way more weeds this year than we’ve had in years past.  The kids have been a great help with daily weeding so long as I reward them with a spray from the hose when we’re finished.

My boys have become interested in studying the foliage of each vegetable and are learning plant identification.  I know they’re looking forward to being able to eat what they grow, as even my 7-year-old said, “I don’t like any zucchini but the ones from our garden.”  Using the garden to teach them that a little work every day makes a big project possible is a lesson that applies widely in life.

If you’ve never undertaken the task of growing your own food, I highly encourage it.  You don’t need a big garden bed– just a few simple pots with herbs or tomatoes or peppers will work.  But the rewards you get from your efforts go far beyond the fresh and delicious produce.

Do you garden?  What’s your favorite thing you’ve learned from gardening?

Good health and great happiness to you!

P.S. Registration for Balance Virtual Bootcamp will stay open through tomorrow.  We started on Monday, but there’s still time to get all the workouts from the beginning.  Check it out!