By Shawn Blackhawk

Growing up in America's Heartland, Shawn Blackhawk used her poetry from an early age to express herself. Her philosophy has always been: "I'll try anything once." She uses her words like a brush, painting vivid pictures, evoking as much emotion from her readers as she can. She appreciates struggles, as they pave the road to triumph, and firmly believes that the darkest parts of the human mind and soul are the only way to eventually celebrate the light. She has been recognized for Illuminating Digital Publishing Excellence by Jenkins Group (eLit Awards) and was the 2011 Silver Medal Finalist for the Electronically Published Internet Collation (EPIC Awards). Shawn's poetry book can be purchased at L-Book.com.

In recognition of Gifts from the Garden Month, we're sharing this special post on growing a healthy garden of fruits and vegetables with nieces and nephews.

It’s springtime. That means I get to wear my favorite perfume: eau de garden dirt!

Growing up, we were always growing something. I learned very early in life that Me + Dirt = Best Time Ever. Mind you, my mother was never thrilled when it came to wash day, but other than that, we were encouraged to plant, grow and harvest the things we loved the most. Two of my favorite items were blackberries and strawberries. Once they were ripe, my grandmother would come over and we would make jams and pies. I’m still not sure exactly what my grandmother added to her recipe, but I’ve never found jams that were half as good as hers.

Since moving away from home, no matter where I lived or what I was doing, I tried to always find a way to grow something. You’d be surprised how many military folks carry cacti with them! Now that I’m on the East Coast, I’m learning the seasons, the soil, and the average amount of acid and alkaline. And while all these things are important for a healthy garden that produces a good amount vegetables, that’s not the best part. The best part is spending time with my nieces and nephews, playing in the dirt.

Collecting Our Gardening Supplies

It starts with a trip to the local hardware store. We look at all the different plants, and if needed, I explain to them what type of fruit or vegetable the plant will bear. I also reinforce the rules: if you want it, you help plant it, and you have to try it if it’s something you aren’t familiar with. I won’t grow food that I’m not going to cook and serve. It’s fun to watch them look at the plants, the pictures on the tags, and see them mulling over the idea as to whether or not they think they’ll try eating it.

Once that’s decided, we head to the checkout counter, and then home to the backyard. I do the hard part of breaking up the soil, using an aerator, and laying the fabric down to help keep weeds away from the plant roots. During this time, my nieces and nephews are blowing bubbles, playing with the dogs and eating Popsicles. And while I’m pretty sure this is an unequal process as far as labor goes, so long as I get a grape or cherry Popsicle, I’m okay.

Learning As We Plant

Once the hard work is out of the way, it’s time to plant. This year, we’ve decided to plant what we’re calling our “Gumbo Garden.” We’ve got okra, red and orange bell peppers, jalapenos, banana peppers, and tomatoes. There are also a couple stalks of corn, purple cabbage and buttercrunch lettuce. After we got those in the ground, it was time to move on to the herb section.

Now, the kids didn’t quite understand what the herbs are for. So I explained to them that they are the seasoning/flavor-producers in our food, such as the different types of mint we planted. I asked them if they like Auntie Shawn’s iced tea, and when they said yes, I told them about how I put a few of the ground up leaves from one of the mint plants inside the tea. I then took a few leaves off of each plant and let them taste the difference. Peppermint, spearmint and regular. They noticed right away the differing tastes, and let me know which their favorite for the next pitcher of tea was. They then tried thyme, rosemary, oregano, and cilantro. I thought it was pretty awesome one of my nephews recognized cilantro as being an ingredient in my homemade pico.

We planted a horseradish root and I taught them as to why it takes a whole year for it to grow. Last but not least to go in the ground was the grape bush one of my nieces picked out. We put that next to the blackberry bush, which will allow for sharing of the trellis – and allow one plant to influence the taste of the other.

Cleanup And Reflection

Once all was said and done, we cleaned the tools and put them back where they came from, and washed up. They went outside to play some more, and I rested. I so love the time gardening with them – to see their little minds working, to watch them mull over the idea of how long it will take for the food to grow and how it will taste. What different kinds of dishes we can make with yummy garden goodness! The sunshine, fresh air and hard work are like mere side effects to hearing their laughs, seeing them smile.

I highly recommend taking your nieces and nephews out and getting the items needed to plant a garden. It’s not just about the food. It’s about the garden of love you plant with the kids and knowing that the bounty you will reap from that experience will last beyond the normal growing seasons.

Photo: Clare Bloomfield
Published: May 13, 2013