Rhythm of Home: Out in the Garden

I’m excited for this month’s challenge to write more about our home life and how we spend our days!

Of course, it would be untrue to say every day we do the same things. Season by season changes our lifestyle in New England. But we find a rhythm to our days, and I’ll try to capture a typical Saturday in this post.

I love Saturdays because generally, I get to “sleep in” which mean, my husband gets up early (he’s an early riser), and when our little guy starts giggling, singing, or sometimes crying in his crib, he gets him up, changes diapers, and brings him downstairs for breakfast.

Who knows what my two menfolk do for the next 30-60 minutes, but I get to sleep! It’s a luxury to get up and ready without scurrying to the baby’s room first!

Daddy and son have this whole “cheesy egg” breakfast routine down! When I ask my son if he wants cheesy eggs during the week, he always turns me down. I guess Dad’s are better! Usually I find some coffee and perhaps “cheesy eggs” waiting for me when I go downstairs.

Now that it’s spring, our new routine is to head outdoors. Sometimes that means tag sales (garage or yard sales for other parts of the country!), sometimes working around the yard. Lately… our new passion is the Community Garden plot!

A local college started a Community Garden and we got an 8×8 plot for just $10! While we have garden space behind the house, our soil is poor and the sunlight minimal. So we were excited to get this plot with good soil and nearly full sun!

We’re in the beginning stages. Hubby had to sift the entire bed to get rid of rocks and other debris. The entire Community Garden is committed to organic farming practices so nobody will be using any chemicals. They’ve provided organic compost for us to add to the beds as well.

Last weekend, our son delighted in pushing truckloads of compost from the big pile to our garden. He stared fascinated at a huge earthworm (but didn’t want to touch it). He dug and climbed in the dirt while Daddy sifted. And left covered head to toe (and inside his diaper) with dirt. Just as every little boy should be happy to spend his days, right? (Perhaps some little girls too, but not me!).

This mama wears gloves on for all dirt activities (which is actually a good idea for pregnant women – there’s a lot of bio-chemical stuff happening in dirt that you don’t want traveling to your baby in utero!). But mostly, I am terrified of bugs. LOVE to garden. Terrified of bugs. Yep, that’s me! Not so keen about dirt under fingernails either.

We plan to plant a host of paste tomatoes (Roma/plum) for sauce making, peas, cucumbers, squash, beans, and colorful peppers! I’ll keep you posted on how our garden grows. We have a good crop of radishes coming in at home, so I’m excited to see what takes off in the Community Garden plot!

We’ve found gardening to be an excellent way to teach our son to follow directions (planting seeds), be observant (finding worms and rocks), work together (digging and dumping dirt with Mommy), and get active outdoors! I think it’s the perfect family activity! He loves checking our seedling beans to see how tall they grow each day!

After a morning of outdoor work/play, we have a simple lunch, and then nap for baby (sometimes mommy and daddy too), and our day usually winds down from there. Dinner might be leftovers or grilling out. We’re usually pretty tuckered out at the end of a Saturday, but sometimes we’ll find time to socialize with friends as well either hosting or attending a dinner or picnic. Phew – our days are full once warm weather hits!

What’s a typical Saturday like in your house? If you write a post about it, link up in the comments!