Ben and kids at a Guelph community garden 

Reflect with us for a moment on the meaning of the word "kindergarten". Friedrich Froebel, who invented the first "kindergarten" in 1837, had a whole Theory of Outdoor Play which stipulated every school should have an outdoor natural area for children (hence kinder - 'garden') where they can learn with all five senses about growth, adaptation, weather, and even heavier subjects such as life, death and rebirth or rejuvenation.

Observing many of the concrete-dominated kindergarten spaces of today, we are not encouraged by our current efforts to engage kids with nature. We believe these experiences are more important than ever.

Ben is a father of a 3-year-old son, and a new born daughter.

Mark has 7 grandchildren, all of whom he has engaged in his half acre garden experience at one time or the other. When a teacher introduced Conrad, a spirited 7-year-old, to seed sowing last spring, his response was, "I already know how to garden". This proclamation was based on his time, albeit limited, spent in his mother's and grandparents' gardens. Meantime, as adults, we continue to learn every day.

Oh, the things kids think and say!

It is a bit late for most seed-sowing activities but there are many other engaging garden-related fun things to do in the garden. Here are some that we have had good luck with:

Give away your excess produce. When a zucchini plant produces more "fruit" than a family can consume, the dilemma is "who will want the excess". At one time, Mark put his unwanted zucchinis at the doorstep of unsuspecting neighbours. He even left one on the passenger seat of a sports car that had the roof top down. Funny guy.

Even Mark has matured with time and now he puts his excess produce in a wooden crate with a sign telling passersby that it is free for the taking.

Claudia is proud of her crop. Proud enough to give it away.

You might do this with the fruit on productive trees, tomatoes, Swiss chard or kale, which are best offered from a bucket with some water in the bottom to prevent wilting.

Seed harvesting. Many of the plants that flowered in your garden earlier in the season have produced seeds that hold fascination for kids. Why? Because a seed is the genesis of a plant. In our experience, the larger the seed, the easier a child can relate to the miracle of it and the birth that it can produce.

Easy to harvest large-seeded plants include beans, especially runner beans with their mottled red seed coating and smooth texture, summer squash and cucumbers, cosmos flowers, nigella, marigold, zinnia and calendula. Small seeds can be fascinating also, especially the experience of releasing them.

Poppies are the perfect example: cut the seed pod carefully, turn it upside down over the outstretched hand of a child and tap the pod to release the seeds.

Do not eat them! As not all poppy seeds are edible.

Many seeds, hand-picked and dried in the sun for a few days, will germinate in the soil: all you do is sprinkle them in place and give the ground a gentle rub with young fingers.

Other seeds can be saved to start indoors next winter or spring. It is fascinating for a kid to realize that the seed they harvested in summer is the same seed that sprouts a new plant come spring!

Cut flowers. We often miss the natural beauty of the flowers growing in our garden when we leave them in place. Making the small effort of cutting flowers to bring indoors is a great way to move the experience closer to home.

Allow your youngster to choose the flowers themselves, this way they will learn that not all flowers hold well in a vase of water while many others do. If they like the idea of cutting the seed head of, say, clematis or nigella, let them do it. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

Remember: there are no failures in the garden, only composting opportunities.

Create a living teepee. A hiding place that belongs to kids is special. Cut long branches of a pussy willow or weeping willow, dogwood or for that matter, any woody shrub or tree with a least a metre and a half of new growth. Collect at least 30 or 40 of the cuttings and push the cut end of each into the ground about 40cm deep in a circle, leaving a space as wide as a kid, then gather and tie the top portion of the new teepee together with garden twine.

Often the cuttings will produce a root, which will create new leaves next spring and more privacy for the kids. In any case, you have now created space that is exclusive to your kids. Like making a fort out of couch cushions, only more permanent. :)

Inspiration for your project

Wildlife. When we think of wildlife out of doors, we often think of mammals, however there are myriad insects and birds in your garden, no matter what its size, that you will observe with just a little effort and time.

Sit with a child near a flower garden or a food garden that is in bloom and ask them to look for native bees (of which there are over 400 in Canada), butterflies and hummingbirds. Note that over 99% of the bugs in our gardens are good bugs. They play a role that is vital to the network of interdependent living beings out of doors. Without bugs we would not survive as none of the bug-feeding animals and birds would survive. The natural food chain would be broken.

With a little explanation on your part, the wonders of nature can become a vital part of a child's development and understanding of the world around them.

You might say that Ben had these many learning opportunities growing up and look at the trajectory of his life: packaging and selling the only organic, Canadian beans, lentils and chickpeas on the market. Cullen's Foods

We wonder what experiences he had as a youngster that might have influenced his choices as an adult.

You never know... you just never know.

Wishing you a great harvest this August.

Mark and Ben Cullen

Purveyors of Beans and Beauty.

Markcullen.com

Cullensfoods.com

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