A Secret Garden

In my quest for health we are moving towards growing as much food ourselves as possible. I read a disturbing article today that detailed how investigations have been done in the USA into what is being sold in the local farmers markets. Surprisingly (or maybe not as it is the states) not all the food are actually being grown on the "farms" that the sellers are claiming. Some investigative journalism was done and some "farmers" stopped off at the wholesale veggie supply company before parking their wares at the local farmers market to flog off the commercial product as home grown. Some suprise visits to farms showed empty dry plots that claimed that the brocolli that you bought yesterday was grown there. As well as that, tests were done on produce that was sold as "pesticide free" and unfortunately this was not the case. NOW, in no way am I suggesting that this is happening at your farmers market here in Australia, BUT when did you last do a check on where the farms are that you are buying from and have you ever asked them what type of weed and pest control measures they use? Because I haven't as I trust pretty much everyone right away until something tweaks me in the other direction. If you know of the farm and their farming methods then WELL DONE because I haven't gotten that far yet but intend to do so. I do know that our berry picking farm that we go to has previously used chemical sprays as the owner was very defensive and non committal in his responses and could only say that they haven't been sprayed in a "while" as I watch my two year old pick her 100th juicy berry of the plant and pop it straight into her mouth... hmmmmm

So anyway! Now we have moved to attempting to grow our veggies at home. We currently have starting to grow Tomato, Lettuce, Carrot, Broccoli, Capsicum, Cucumber & Strawberries as well as herbs like parsley,basil and mint. You have all been privy to my delightful garden bed previously. It is looking a bit better now. I'm not not sure if the shoots are the veggies or the regeneration of weeds so will leave them there until I can tell! As well as that we have some potted veggies and hanging strawberries on the deck. This is great if you are renting as you dont need much space or any land.

ALSO, I have scored a plot at the community garden in the town next to us. It is a magical place and I want each of you to do a little search for your closest Community Garden. Who knows what you will find. To me it reminds me of the book The Secret Garden. One of my favourite. and now at 28 I finally found it. Its sitting on the side of a road in all its glory and I have never seen it before. It has a wrought iron mermaid guarding it and I have been given the security pin to grab the keys and go into this heaven whenever I want. Completely enclosed it houses about 50 assorted veggie plots seperated by large stones and over flowing with the most divine veggies I have ever seen. Rhubarb is bursting out of the ground and huge heads of cauliflower and broccoli are everywhere. My two kids and I spent almost 2 hours walking around the garden checking out what everyone was growing. Daughter number 1 ran around calling out to me all the veggies she could find while eyeing off the scarecrow that had a stuffed puppy dog as a head, yes it freaked me out a bit too. Hidden at the back of the garden is a children's sand pit made with old fallen trees and there are tables and chairs made from recycled materials for you to sit and enjoy the sun. Childrens toys and mini cars are there to use so Daughter 1 drove around pretending to "shop for food".The chicken clucks away in his house right next to you and a big classroom sits there for you to use as well. Daughter number 1 really felt like dirtgirl when we found the worm farms with worm juice available at our leisure. Yummy. LOL

Our plot is full of some gorgeous broad bean plants at the moment so we can only plan what we want to put in there but it is just a fantastic idea and I urge all of you to investigate where your closest garden is and whether you can just visit or get a plot and join other like minded families and teach your kids new skills and new ideas along the way. Not only is it fun for the family. You get the reward of learning new things, being outside and soaking up some Vit D and your food is chemical and pesticide free and lovingly cared for by you. What more can you ask for.

Live. Laugh.Love. xx