We love dirt!

We finally had some nice weather and were able to get started on some gardening this past Saturday.  The kids really "dig" gardening!  It's something new for me, gardening, but I really think it's something that I'm going to enjoy getting better at each year.  And, what's even more fun is that my kids are learning right along with me.  I let them each pick out something to plant that they are "in charge" of putting in the dirt and helping to water.  We cleared out 3 of our garden beds and were able to plant a few things, but still have 2 more to clear out and some more to plant.  I still have a long way to go in figuring out how to be a master gardener.  Really, I just get excited to even see something green pop up, it does take time and work though.

Last year we got some tomatoes, some indian corn, huge sunflowers, green beans and about 4 pumpkins I think.  Apparently we got carrots too, but didn't know that until 2 days ago when I dug them all up from clearing out the beds.  There were a ton of carrots!  I think I just was too tired and pregnant last year to take the time to harvest them, and I thought they didn't really grow too.  We shall see what we get this year!

Here's an activity I did with the kids a few weeks ago.  We made dirt pie!

First you have the kids munch up some oreos and graham crackers real fine.  We found heavy items worked the best.  This is for the topping.







I don't have any more pictures of in between steps, but then you make some yummy chocolate pudding.  Pour the Chocolate pudding into a prepared oreo crust. Have the kids top with their "dirt" topping, and add the gummy worms on top!  I'm sure there are many variations to this that others have done.  It would be fun to add some greenery or flowers (edible or not) to it.  This is just what we had.


Then we made some grass planters.  I had them decorate a portion of an egg carton because we did this around Easter time, but you could use anything really, a cup, a bucket. 

Then we put them in the window sill, but forgot to water them several days.  Garden's and grass don't grow without water!  So, we moved them outside.  They are doing better now.

Happy gardening!