Adventures from the Red Box

We are in the middle of summer here in the high desert of Southern California.  While we complain of the heat, in actuality it has been a mild summer for us.  The garden wilts in the afternoon heat only to come back during the sunset.  What we are harvesting is eaten or given away, and that brings me to this post.

The Grands are excited to go out to the garden everyday and see what is new.  There is a small harvest of green beans both pole and bush, the corn stalks have been pulled from their box and sunflower head have been harvested, hanging upside down in the garage so that we can have the seeds before the birds do.

So how did the Grands do with fresh veggies from the garden?  Above you see the first zucchini that was harvested, sliced with poppy seed dressing.  We offered it to the kids, the first reaction was "I don't like it".  I think that is a universal reaction to something new that happens to be good for you.  With that said, the grown ups had theirs wile the kids watched.  And then it happened...

They ate it.  And not just one mind you, many....and asked for more much to Grandpa's delight.  Jayna now eats tomatos off of the vine, just like an apple.  She really loves the Green Zebra variety.  While they seem to be happy campers here in these pics, this doesn't mean that we don't have problems sometimes at dinner.  They are still "yard apes" i.e. toddlers and pickey as hell about what they will and won't eat.  (I would like to believe that Moms and Grandmoms in Kenya have the same problem with getting kids to eat).  But for now, we will take this as a small victory in the "try something new" war.

Adventures from the Red Box

Remember those broken egg shells and that I told you were seeds planted in them? hummmmm?! Well, look at 'em now!

We (the Grands and I) planted them in a slightly raised bed.  (We have horrible soil here....raised beds is the only way to go).  I gave the instructions and the kids were the ones with dirty hands.  Just the way it should be. LOL!  Just for reference, the kiddo there is about 3.5 feet tall.

If you look really hard, you can see the bees in the center of this sunflower (there are 4 by my count).  I am hoping that we will get lots of sunflower seeds from all of this activity.  I'll be Googling how to 's on getting  seeds from the sunflowers and preparing them for consumption.  Hopefully by us and not the birds, but we will have to see about that one.

Adventures from the Red Box

I have talked with to others that garden and there is one thing that most of us have in common...a "dislike" of the tomato worm.

Yes, these little green critters have reduced otherwise strong, brave, and capable people to weak kneed, quivering masses of mush.  I have talked with some folks who refuse to even grow tomatoes because of these pests.
I wanted to make the garden fun for the grandkids.  So I bought 4 different colors of tomatoes - red, green, yellow, and black, although I suspect that the black one is actually a very dark red variety.  The tomatoes are doing quite well and we have blooms and fruit on all 4 of the plants.

The kids also know that when they see a flower on the plant it means that there will be something good growing there, so we have to leave it alone!

I say all of this with pride, but also because the day that I had feared, arrived.  The day when the first tomato worm made its appearance.
I understand that there is an ecosystem in my backyard, I also understand that even tomato worms have a place in the circle of life (cues Elton John song).  But  you see, we are a vegetarian household and those worms are after our food.  Its us or them.  But the bigger question is how will the Grandkids react to them?   What we do is cut off the branch that they are destroying and then dispatch them to the big garden in the sky.  The branch is then composted.
So last night after coming home later than usual, I went out to the garden by myself to check on its progress and the Grands were getting their shower and ready for bed.  It was still early enough that the bees were flying around the blooms and the air  itself seemed to be buzzing with life.  I enjoy those times when the world seems quiet and I am a part of it rather than a lumbering giant that is interfering with the process.  I was looking for the little green eating machines when I heard the back door open and Ian came running out calling my name.  After saying good nights, and getting hugs, he wanted to know what I was doing.  Knowing this for the ploy to stay up later (generations before him have tried the same trick) I told him.   I really expected him to tell me that he wanted to help me, but instead I was told to make sure that I "chop em in half Grandma!" and he ran off in the direction of the house.
I found 3 and I did as I was told.

I am sure there will be some warm summer nights ahead of me that will be filled with sweet little voices, teaming with excitement, yelling that they "found one!" and to "chop it in half!" followed by a most compassionate "EEEUUUUUWWWWWW" or "lookie at the green stuff, thats nasty! Is there another one Grandma?"
Yes, these are the moments in life that bring us together and closer as a family.  If you would excuse me, I need to go get my garden snips, the grandkids just came home from school.

Adventures from the Red Box

Sometimes I believe that directing Grandkids is a lot like herding cats, especially mine.  I love my Grandkids, but there are times....while I am sometimes inclined to blame such things as ADD/ADHD, too much sugar, TV, or a number of other things, in the end, they are just kids.
I started with the kids, some seeds from packages with Sesame Street characters pictured on the front, and broken egg shells.  I felt like I was putting together a real educational activity.  The kids planted sunflowers and radishes this way and each day Ian would drag out the cardboard egg carton to the sidewalk and we would water them, waiting for the little green leaves to make their first appearance.  (BTW, the sunflowers made it to the transplanting...the radishes, not so much)
The 3rd weekend in April, I designated planting day.  I took some grief from my husband who reminded me that it was to early, but I wanted to get the show on the road.  We live in the High Desert area of Southern California, and along with the rest of the country, the weather has been unpredictable.  Usually we have one cold snap in the spring before it stays warm.  Much to my surprise and delicate ego, we had more than one and I got to endure the "I told you so" speech from my dearly beloved.  I had gone to the local home improvement store and bought plants to round out the garden.  Man nor children cannot live by sunflowers and radishes alone.  I came home with 4 different colors of tomatoes, green beans, corn, squash and peas.  I also came back with flowers to make things pretty.

By now it became apparent that we needed more space.  So I set out to clear out the weeds and get a few more garden beds ready for planting.  To be honest, the weeds in the garden area had gotten out of control and I really feared losing the kids in the jungle out there.  See what I mean, after all that is a 20 pound cat there.....geesh!
Fast forward a few weekends and we now have a fully planted garden!  Viola!

Its at this point, the real teaching has begun.  The lessons of life, patience, responsibility, caring for the land and those things that are important to you.  Memories of my Mom and Dad begin to surface through my daughter and I began to see and hear her share those memories with her children.  There is a part of me that wonders if Ian and Jayna will do the same with their children when I am gone; if they will remember the Red Box and what we did together in the Summer of 2010.   I hope so.  If not the actual memory, then the feeling of closeness and joy coupled with the satisfaction of working in a garden.  And perhaps, a smile, when looking at pictures, fading with the years, knowing that Grandma and Grandpa loved them enough to spend quiet, un-interrupted time with them in a garden.

Adventures from the Red Box

Not bad, eh?
Well, this story is about the adventures of one Grandma and two Grandkids...thats how it started anyway.  Instead of telling the entire thing all at once, I'm going to stretch it out some.
I wanted to share some of the childhood memories that I had with Ian and Jayna, and the ones that my daughters had with my Mom.  We had some raised beds in the backyard and I had asked Steve (my husband) if we could have one to plant a garden in.  He wasn't so keen on the idea, mostly because of the cost of water in our district.  But he relented as most husbands do, bless him.
I told Ian what I we were going to do and showed him the box that we had adopted.  Steve had been putting in stuff for composting for a couple of years now, so there was lots of good soil making nutrients there.  So after turning it over a couple of times and picking out the grubs it was ready to go.  And that's when Ian said that he wanted a red box.  That almost derailed the project.  Grandpa wasn't so thrilled with the idea...it was a waste of time and money to do that and to top it off, he was going to dismantle the garden this year anyway.  It took me a few times asking before he  said yes...after all, if he was going to dismantle it then what was the harm?

So  on a day early in April, with paint and rollers in hand, we started to paint the box. Did I mention that Ian wanted "sidewalks"?  That is, something to walk on besides soil.  After all, a 4 year old needs to be in the middle of things, right?

 

It was a good days work for the kids...and Grandma for that matter.  By the end of the day, we had our red box.  A beautiful garden ready box that we could see from our kitchen window.

What we planted will have to wait for our next chapter.....