We’ve had a few lovely days over the past few weeks, never two consecutively sadly, but a glimpse of Spring on the way. Unfortunately as I write this the rain has come back in, the fields are again flooded, and the mood in the house somewhat dampened. Little one loves the great outdoors and not being able to go out on his balance bike or to the beach certainly lets us see the “strong” side of his personality!
I’ve realised that when the weather is gloomy our budget struggles a lot more. It is easy to have lots of free fun outdoors when the sun is shining, but even though Gabriel loves to go out in the rain to slosh in puddles; both me and Gary are a tad more reluctant!
Growing Season
One thing we have been doing this past few weeks though, whether the weather is rain or shine, is getting the seedlings started for the growing season ahead.
We’re propagating on the windowsill some tomato and pepper seedlings, and we have also started the lettuce off indoors as we suddenly got a frozen snap last week; which came as a surprise after such a mild Winter. Gabe loves helping and is happily watching his seedlings for new signs of life each day.
One of the best ways to get children eating more vegetables and fruit is letting them help grow it. Tomatoes when presented on a plate here are “yucky”, but last Summer when they were abundant in the greenhouse at my parent’s smallholding, we often found Gabe picking and eating the sweet little Sungolds straight from the plant.
I love that Gabe knows where his food comes from – we’ve also explained to him about meat and dairy (in language a nearly 3 year old can understand), and he knows about eggs with collecting them from “his chickens” each day. Food disassociation is a bigger problem than we realise and only by talking about real food and where it comes from, as opposed to the ‘food-like substances’ which seem to fill the supermarket aisles, will we be able to return to a more healthful and sustainable way of eating. Okay mini-rant over 😉
Growing Your Own to Save Money
Growing your own vegetables is such a money saver as well as free fun with children. Even if you can only grow a few herbs on the windowsill it is worth getting started. If you have a small patio lots of things can be grown in stacked planters and sacks. It is also amazing how pretty the garden, even without flowers, is when the fruit and vegetables are in full swing.
Pass On the Benefit
We had a lot of spare seeds from the books we send out that were coming close to their “date-life” and although they will be good for another few years at least, we couldn’t sell them any longer. To waste them though would be such a shame, so they have been given away to anyone who would take them.
It is wonderful sometimes to just give to others, no anticipation of anything in return, just knowing you will be helping someone else out. As a society it feels at times that people will no longer give (whether that be time or goods they no longer need or want) without wanting something in return. It is, most likely, a result of more a disparate society and a change in community. I’m not really sure where my ponderings here are going (and I promised no more rants earlier on!); but I shall think of it some more and no doubt blog about when it comes to me in greater depth.
Just found this website and am busily going through your previous posts and really enjoying them.
I agree with what you say in this post and love the description “food like substances” that is what they really are.
Keep up the good work
Hi Lee, glad you like the blog! The phrase is one I picked up from Michael Pollan’s book ‘In Defence of Food’, well worth a read if you are into real food! It is such an apt description of much of the supermarket shelves, and we do try to get back to basics here as much as possible with cooking as not only is it better for us, but so much cheaper too.