This Year Grow Your Own Organic Vegetables With Your Kids

There is nothing like picking fresh vegetables from your garden and eating them that day. However, a vegetable garden can do more than just provide you with fresh produce. It provides children with a great learning experience while encouraging curiosity and sensory stimulation.

An organic vegetable garden will incorporate flowers and herbs that will help attract beneficial insects as well as butterflies and birds. Kids will enjoy looking at the butterflies and some of the interesting bugs that an organic garden will bring. Sunflowers attract gold finches, scarlet runner beans can attract hummingbirds. The garden could bring toads to your garden. The vegetable garden can be a great experience for a child.

Another bonus of growing your food is you may find that your child may be more inclined to eat “their vegetables”. They have that sense of pride in growing “their vegetables. Let me relate a story of my experience with a preschooler who hated green beans. As we were planting a garden for his family, he wanted to help. We decided to let him grow the green beans. So we had him put the seeds in the ground and cover them up and water them. Every day he would go out to his garden to watch his beans grow. He kept a journal drawing pictures of his garden. The first sprouts caused him to run into the house to tell his mother that his beans were growing. He was so excited! The beans continued to grow, but then a rabbit entered the picture. He saw a rabbit eating his bean sprout. Out the door he went to chase the rabbit away. Every day now was war with that rabbit. We advised his parents on some things they could do to keep the rabbit out of the garden. However, the boy continued his vigil to keep the bunny away from his beans. Well, eventually he won that war, and he started picking the beans that he grew. The first time he came into the house with a bowl of fresh green beans, he insisted that his mother serve them for dinner. His mother replied to him that she thought he didn’t like green beans. His answer, “ I don’t like green beans, but these are my green beans and they are different. They taste better.” That entire summer, he ate green beans, tomatoes, and zucchini. These were all vegetables he didn’t like, but since he grew them that made them different.

So this summer have that family vegetable garden.

About the author: Ron Ziegler is the owner of Suburban Farming Company, LLC. Suburban Farming Company plants and maintains backyard organic vegetable gardens for residential and commercial markets in the Philadelphia area. You can learn more about Suburban Farming Company at www.suburbanfarmingcompany.com

St. George Greek Festival

I CAN NOT WAIT!!! I have been to this festival many times and it never disappoints. Delicious Greek food, children doing tradition Greek dances and even Greek beer (also shopping, pastries & music)!

Dates: October 7,8,9, 10
Thursday: 5-9 PM
Friday & Saturday: 11AM-11PM
Sunday: Noon-11PM
Place: St. George Greek Orthodox Church
30 East Forge Road
Media, PA

And for those of you who have been there before there is a new Curbside Pick-Up from 12-2 Friday-Sunday. Call 610-459-1015

St. George Festival

St. Luke Greek Orthodox Church Festival

I'm sure everyone has realized by now that I love to eat! There is seriously, very little food that I don't like :) So St. Luke's will be hosting its annual Greek Affair. The Greek festival features authentic Greek food, delicious sweets and pastries, traditional folk dancing, live Greek music, rides and amusements, a flea market (Monastiraki), boutiques...I'll see you by the baklava!

Dates & Hours:
September 15, 16, 17, 18 & 19
Wednesday: 11am-9pm
Thursday: 11am-9pm
Friday: 11am-11pm
Saturday: 11am-Midnight
Sunday: Noon-9pm
Free Admission

For more information go to The Greek Affair.