We’ve been talking a lot to our three-year-old about sharing, so it’s been on my mind. We tell him that it’s ok to share because once his friend takes a turn, he’ll get his toy back. But that’s not exactly what I want him to know. It’s something more like: we share because we want our friends (and people we don’t even know) to enjoy what we are lucky to have. Being a Prairie Gardens CSA family has been a nice lesson in sharing work, food and our Sundays. And has made us feel pretty lucky.
Sharing work and parenting advice
With two little kids, I’ve had a tough time helping out as much as I’d like to – but when I did work on the farm I loved it. I especially liked working in a group, like when we repotted the greenhouse tomato plants with three other families. The advice I got on potty training was super-useful (basically relax, it’ll happen and it did). And those tomatoes are like ten feet high in the greenhouse now and I get to feel partly responsible. I hope next year, I’ll be able to do more – and maybe get my little one in on it too. We both do love playing in the dirt.
Sharing food
At the beginning of the season, the food is all bundled up for us, but by now we are all in the spirit and take our own share. I know there are 10 families that come to the farm for pick-up, so I just divide what I see by 10. Easy.
It’s also nice to be able to pull back a little on those cool little spaceship zucchinis, which I have been hoarding for something special, and to pick my own herbs from the greenhouse.
We have also had two potlucks for CSA families and they have both been delicious – with lots of salad (I loved the wheat berry with kale one), warm chili, buttery dilly potatoes and sweet fruit desserts. The food is really the thing that unites us all and it’s been wonderful to share that. That will just get better too as the kids get older and we’re not chasing them all over during mealtimes. That does get better, right?
Sharing family Sunday
But what we will miss the absolute most about the CSA are our family Sundays on the farm. At first I was worried to commit us every week, but we have loved it every time. Even if some or all of us are cranky on our way out, we don’t stay that way for long.
The animals are my favourite part (I just barely resisted the free bunnies, but the second batch of kittens was too much for me). Daddy likes the corn maze, baby just likes riding in the wagon and the little guy whirls like a dervish all over the place although we usually end up on the big white slide over by the duck pond. I think it’s because there’s almost always a puddle there too. Oh and then there’s the rare quiet moment we share on the way home too – I really will miss that a lot.
Sharing is a hard one to explain to a kid – you can’t make people share, but you should share anyway. I guess I hope that he gets the point when he sees us learning how to share food, share our effort and share our favourite place with our friends. Maybe he’ll start sharing his tiny cars with his kid sister. Yeah right mom.
