Check out the images below for information on the many benefits of teaching children how to garden.
There are many things you can do to help! If you have a son or daughter in a school that doesn't have a gardening program, encourage the administration to start one as soon as possible.
You can even print these images out as a PDF and take them along. Kidsgardening.org even provides a guide to help you make your case (more on that Friday!).
If you have kids, it's a great idea to get them gardening early. Teaching children to garden has many great benefits including discipline, teaching biology, encouraging love of nature, sustainability, responsibility, self-sufficiency, and building self-esteem.
from kidsgardening.org
This month, we'll be featuring several articles on family gardening, school gardening, and community gardening. We at Planting the Seed strongly encourage you to get your family (especially children) involved in gardening.
Gardening isn't just a great way to improve your lawn (or your diet), it's a great way to teach and a great way to improve your community. This can be done by teaching your children (and your children's friends) to garden, starting or joining a community garden, or getting involved with your children's schools to make sure that they teach gardening in the classroom.
from worldfooddayusa.org
October features World Food Day (October 16), a global movement to teach children and adults about current approaches to ending world hunger. Consider starting a family garden, to help teach your kids about the need for cooperation, aid, and education.
Here's a Parents' Primer to help you get started:
"Many other writings on kids' gardening start with what to grow and how to design and build a kids' garden, prepare soil, and plant, but this primer is not just about creating one garden for your kids. It's about taking advantage of "gardening moments" with your kids every week in your own backyard ... and front yard and in the garage and at the windowsill and in the basement ...
Through the seasons there are big projects and little opportunities for gardening with kids that can fit seamlessly into your life. This primer will help you learn to recognize those opportunities and turn your kids'questions into fun discoveries. And you'll get the garden-building basics too!" (kidsgardening.org)
There are many people who would love to garden, but they toss out excuses like "I don't have the space" or "I want to. I just don't want to do it alone". Well, community gardens are becoming ever popular all across the U.S. According to ACGA (American Community Gardening Association), there's only one community garden in Mobile and three in Pensacola. Get it together Mobile!
Community Gardens are a great way to beautify a neighborhood, develop strong and lasting friendships, and stuff your face with delicious home-grown food! Another great aspect of a community garden is that you don't have to go it alone. The other gardeners are there to help you out and are almost always happy to lend a hand.
If you're considering starting a community garden in your area, check out this helpful guide from the USDA.
A great way to experience the natural beauty of the Gulf Coast is to go biking. I know, most of you are thinking, "I don't have anyone to ride with." Well that excuse isn't good anymore because MOB (Mobilians on Bikes) is a quickly growing community of bicyclists of all talents and ages.
from facebook.com
Participating in a free community organization like Mobilians on Bikes is a great way to plant the community and a great way to get some ideas for your lawn or garden!
If you're not ready to take a big plunge, or if you're still pretty wobbly on the wheels, you should definitely join them for their Saturday or Sunday slow rides. It's a leisurely bike ride through some of Mobile's most beautiful neighborhoods.
They have a wide variety of places to cycle and all of them are great for getting to know your community, staying healthy, and spending time with family or friends. Here are a few of the recent events.
Here's their tagline: "Mobilians on Bikes promotes the utilitarian use of cycling for all Mobilians. We work to support the bicycle as an effective, fun, and safe means of urban transportation. Go to our group website to keep up with all the fun."
Here they are visiting a farm!
In short, Mobilians on Bikes is a great way to keep healthy and build a solid, safe, and productive community.
