About The B4FD Project features blog posts from guest writers that explore the far-reaching benefits of family dinner.
Month of Family Dinners: Sept. 25 - Oct. 24, 2011
New posts every week in 2012.
April: Green and Gardens
May: Celebrate Mothers
June: Celebrate Fathers
info@blogforfamilydinner.org
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By Serena Ball
During the month of Mother’s Day, I must share my Aunt Sandy’s recipe for cherry pie. It’s not your typical cherry pie. It’s Banana Cherry Pie flavored with cinnamon and almond extract and it was my very favorite pie as a child. I even occasionally asked for it for my birthday, instead of cake.
Aunt Sandy was an amazing cook. Her homemade chocolate bonbons were memorable – and so was her spaghetti with meat sauce, her elaborate birthday cakes for my cousin and her repertoire of delicious hamburger casseroles recipes. (Since she and her family lived on the same cattle ranch as did we – there was always a need for another variation on the hamburger casserole.)
My aunt also had diabetes. She managed it very well. But I’ve never forgotten what she told me when I announced I was going to college to be a dietitian; she said “I don’t like dietitians.” When I got over the initial shock, I found her to be an inspiration – to always, always think about the feelings of person on the other end of diet advice I was dispensing – and to make sure that guidance was realistic for them.
And in the end, it turns out Aunt Sandy may have known more than a few of her dietitians back in the day. She was able to manage her diabetes well by eating a fairly ‘normal’ – but healthfully home-cooked diet, and making sure she had quality protein at every meal and snack. That’s pretty near where recommendations for people with diabetes stand now: Eat the same healthful diet as the rest of the family – just monitor carbohydrates, fats and protein more carefully.
This pie is certainly not a low-carb pie. But it is chocked full of fruit and a moderate piece can obviously be worked into a healthful diet. I like to serve it to my kids as an afternoon snack along with a glass of protein-packed milk, which this month we will raise to mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers and Aunt Sandy.
Serena Ball is half of the Teaspoon of Spice duo of “Two dietitians who love food as much as you do!” and blogs at TeaspoonofSpice.com. She is co-founder of the monthly healthy recipe challenge The Recipe Redux. Serena lives in a Chicago suburb with her husband, three young children and a haphazard garden in which only rhubarb and raspberries seem to thrive. She loves cooking with her kids and blogging about healthy, simple food that must be delicious.
Author’s note: This post originally appeared on President’s Day holiday weekend at: http://teaspooncomm.com/teaspoonofspice/2012/02/presidents-day-cherry-pie/
By Neha Dedhia Shah
I am a stay at home mom of 3 beautiful young children and a wife of a fantastic husband. I try my hardest to provide for my family but the one area I cannot seem to pull it together is meals for my husband and I. I can handle making dinner and feeding my children – yes I do cater to them and make them different foods than I make for us. I have extremely picky eaters and I will do anything to get them to eat a healthy meal – even if that means making them something different. Now dinner for my husband and I is a whole different story. I cannot manage to find time in my day to make dinner for us. How do people do it?
One person I know who did an amazing job with full meals every day is my mom. Growing up, my mom worked a full time job as an Engineer yet she still managed to come home every evening and make a full Indian meal for our family of 4. I admire her for that because it is a lot of work making a full Indian meal on a daily basis – after working all day and then coming home to two young girls. I aspire to be like my mom when it comes to cooking but I know I will never get there. I appreciate her hard work and the time she took to make sure her family ate healthy everyday.
A recipe that I use (modernized version of what my mom used to make) that is fast, easy and works for my whole family is chapati quesadilla. It is something my kids as well as my husband and I enjoy! Since Chapati’s are healthy and made of whole wheat flour and we eat them with a lot of our foods – I use them a lot.
Chapatis:
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1 tsp oil
pinch of salt
warm water
For the chapatis
- Mix the flour, oil and salt and make a dough by adding warm water as needed.
- Knead the dough well and let it sit for ½ an hour.
- Make 2 ” flattened balls and then with a rolling pin, roll out until they are thin like a tortilla
- Cook on both sides of a tava (griddle) until its golden
- Add ghee (butter) after cooked.
Potatoes and Corn Quesadillas
Ingredients
1 Potato peeled and cubed into small pieces
1/2 cup corn (I prefer frozen over canned)
2 tbsp chopped onion
1 tsp of garam masala (mixture of spices – can buy it from any Indian store)
Pinch of cumin and mustard seeds for seasonings
Pinch of salt
Shredded cheese as desired
Method
1. Heat a tsp of oil in a pan and when it is hot add cumin and mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start to pop add the onions and saute until translucent.
2. Add the salt, garam masala, potatoes and corn, sprinkle a tbsp of water, cover with a lid and let cook until the potatoes are soft.
3. When the filling is cooked, heat a skillet and place the chapati in it. Add the filling, sprinkle cheese (as desired) and place another chapati on top. When the cheese is melted, the chapati quesadillas are done.
4. Cut into 4 pieces and serve.
I sprinkle chili powder on the filling after I make my kid’s quesadillas since they do not like it hot. You can also replace the potatoes and corn with any other soft and cooked vegetables and it will taste just as great!
Even to this day, my mom will make dinner for my family and either bring it over or have us over to her house for dinner at least twice a week and I love her for it! It makes my life easier and our diet a healthy one.
My mom is an amazing cook and I thank her for all that she has provided for me growing up and now for my family!
Neha Dedhia Shah is a Co-Founder and Writer for BabyRecs. Quitting her job and choosing to be a stay at home mom with 3 young children allowed her to spend more time doing the things she loves. With a passion for creativity, Neha has found that among her love for arts, crafts and fashion, she also enjoys writing. Please visit her site to see more of Neha’s writing.
by Jennifer Grant
Sitting down for dinner with my husband and children – or whatever combination of the five of them is home – is one of my favorite, ordinary pleasures.
Almost nightly, one of my sons fixes his gaze on the butter plate and then saws thick, neat squares from the stick and arranges them on his bread. My son’s passion for butter reminds me of my brother’s promise, when we were children ourselves, that he would someday name his first child “Butter” as a testament to his love for it. (Happily for all involved, he later changed his mind.)
Whenever she has spaghetti, my older daughter sighs with gratification after she sweeps up a strand of pasta, swirls it in the puddle of marinara on her plate, and closes her mouth over her folk. “Pasta,” she says, speaking the word as if it were made of silk.
My oldest child, the only picky eater in the bunch, is inexplicably fond of legumes, especially if they are prepared with curry. These foods add nice color to his repertoire of favorites, the same few foods he’s craved since he was tiny. Grilled cheese sandwiches. Boxed macaroni and cheese. Caesar salads. I get special pleasure watching him greedily consume a bowl of spicy split pea soup.
In watching my children eat, I’m reminded that not all mothers can do the same. For many women around the world, the task of securing food for their children is an endless, often futile, struggle. I’m also reminded that some parents in more affluent cultures bear the excruciating burden of having children with eating disorders. Those grim realities, paired with the undeniable satisfaction I get from watching my children eat well, make feeding them – and considering what I am doing to help those in need – all the more important to me.
From the moment my children came into my life, feeding them – literally keeping them alive – has been a responsibility I’ve been glad to shoulder. I’m aware of how fortunate I am to be able to do so. Of course now that they are tweens and teens – not the terrifyingly vulnerable infants they once were – I don’t track every ounce of nourishment that enters and exits their bodies. They are strong and healthy and can serve themselves bowls of cereal or reach into the fridge for a yogurt when hunger whispers at them.
I’ve recently become aware of another pleasure I derive related to feeding my family. It’s not – much as I love it – listening to the stories my children tell to describe their days, but it is played out in the half hour before we sit down to dinner. When children are very young, that period of time (also known as “the witching hour”) is possibly the most dreaded and dreadful part of a parent’s day, but when they are older, it can be a time to savor.
A few nights ago, as store-bought spanakopita baked in the oven and I spooned hummus into a bowl, I stopped for a moment to listen to and look around at my children. All four of them had congregated at the kitchen counter about thirty minutes earlier.
“When’s dinner?” they asked.
“In a little while,” I said. “Twenty minutes. Maybe half an hour.”
They wandered from the room. One began practicing the piano. Another flopped onto the couch to read. The other two went out back and started a game of whiffle ball. In a few minutes, drawn by the crack of the bat and the laughter outside, the other two had joined the game. I watched from the window above the kitchen sink as my nearly sixteen year-old son hit the ball and raced to first base (the pear tree) and then second (the play set). My youngest batted next and all four kids broke into laughter when she hit a foul ball over the fence into the neighbor’s yard. My oldest won’t be a part of these ordinary scenes in two short years. He’ll be away at college, rendering the whiffle ball teams – and the gender balance in our home – uneven.
After more than a decade and a half of mothering, as I sliced red pepper for the salad, I could hear echoes of those well-meaning older women at the grocery store who, on seeing me with my four little ones many years ago, took me aside and told me to cherish every moment.
“It goes by so fast,” they said, wistfully. “Are you sure you’re treasuring this special time?”
The familiar sights and sounds of my kids out back as I put the finishing touches on our dinner transported me to a place – unlike that exhausted, blurred land of caring for very young children – where I knew I would be able to answer those ladies at the grocery store with a confident “Yes!”
“Yes, I am cherishing these days! I know they are precious.”
I sprinkled a little feta cheese on the salad, tossed a dishtowel onto the counter, and called out from the open window: “Dinner time!”
Jennifer Grant is the author of two memoirs about family life: Love You More: The Divine Surprise of Adopting My Daughter and MOMumental: Adventures in the Messy Art of Raising a Family. Find her online at jennifergrant.com.
by Shari Brooks
It’s amazing how much about my mom’s life I learned through her death. I always knew Mom was a very private person. Yet, her funeral boasted myriad outsiders who were somehow touched by Mom; it was my window into her true depth of compassion for others, even during her personal cancer struggle. The receiving line represented grieving people from all walks of her life: the Russian manicurist who looked forward to seeing my mom every week for the last eight years (even during her marathon chemo infusion days), the dry cleaning lady who loved receiving my mom’s crafty hand-written recipes each week, teachers from my grade school (over 35 years ago) who worked with her as class mom. As I looked out across the sea of people congregated, I realized that many of them had, at one point in their lives, sat around our dinner table and benefited from Mom’s gourmet cooking. In fact, I’m certain that many friendships in the audience were even initiated around our table.
Our dinner table was effectively a communal table. As quiet and reserved as my mom could be, my father is the polar opposite. He is a people-collector. Every person that came into contact with my dad was, in one way or another, invited over the house for a home-cooked meal (regardless if he informed Mom or not). To this day, I have no idea how my mom put up with him. On many occasions, she’d find herself cooking for people who didn’t even speak a lick of English but who my dad had met out: at the hospital, on the street, at the symphony. Basically, there was no filter for Dad. Whoever seemed remotely interesting would get the invite for dinner. Often, Mom would be told the morning of the dinner and, without any hesitation, the table would be set and the kitchen would be overflowing with the savory smells from the stove and double oven – both in full swing.
For the last five years of her life, Mom’s quiet strength prevented most people from even knowing she was deeply suffering from a terminal illness. She would drive herself alone to her multi-hour chemo treatments at the hospital. Devoid of emotion, she’d “Plug into” her chest port and start reading her favorite book or finish a crossword puzzle. Then, she’d shop for her groceries and come home and start cooking like it was any other day. Cooking became her form of meditation and a way to escape the cancer struggles she faced on a daily basis. When her hair fell out, she always had new wigs lined up ready to be styled. When her eyebrows fell out, without hesitation new ones were tattooed on. With the fifty-pound weight loss came new, vibrant zany outfits. She didn’t outwardly pity herself. She wasn’t willing to allow herself to give in. And so, the meals were cooked and people continued to gather around our dinner table. As her illness started progressing, providing meals for people made Mom happy. It gave her a sense of purpose when all else seemed doom and gloom. Somehow she was always a pillar of strength– to her friends, to her family and to cancer.
After Mom’s funeral four years ago, I vowed that I would do anything I could to preserve Mom’s memory and to share her abundant culinary legacy. In the process, I have had to sort through hundreds of handwritten recipes, frantically scribbled on everything from post-it notes to Dad’s prescription sheets. Reading her recipes, filling in the gaps, cooking them, sharing them, I am connecting with her in ways I never thought possible.
The emotional journey through Mom’s recipes reveals her quiet strength and determination as a wife, mother, grandmother, friend, and, of course, celebrated cook!
Shari Brooks left a 15-year career as a marketing executive in the television industry in NYC to raise her two crazy kids. Four years ago her mother passed away from breast cancer and left behind a treasure trove of her celebrated hand-written recipes. With these recipes in hand and a desire to learn how to really cook, reclaim meal time in her family, and share her mother’s culinary legacy, Shari launched her own blog My Judy The Foodie. You can also follow her on Twitter (@myjudythefoodie) and Facebook.
by Natalia Stasenko
We did not eat meals as a family when I was growing up. We did not have TV dinners either. In fact, TV dinners were non-existent in rural Russia 30 years ago. One of the reasons for not eating together as a family was practical – our tiny table in the kitchen simply could not sit comfortably more than 3 people at the same time and we were 4. Another reason was that family meals were not seen as important, and, in fact, talking while eating was discouraged. So when, after hopping around the globe for a little while and finally settling down in New York, I got around to having my own kids, I had very little idea about what family meals were about.
What I did have however was a good understanding of what a balanced meal should look like. I was lucky to witness the most effective nutrition education in action thanks to the hard work of my mother who aside of her full time job also had to grow, harvest and preserve the produce that made the bulk of our family’s diet. It is difficult for me now even to imagine the amount of hard work she put daily into putting the “non-family meals” on the table. Needless to say, the same meal was served to all family members. In fact, picky eating was unheard of and seen only occasionally in city kids who came to visit their grandparents in summer months. I was starving after having spent all day playing outside and would swallow anything, be it stewed cabbage, beet soup, fried fish, meat cutlets, sauerkraut – you name it.
My mom had very little access to nutritional information of any kind and the meals in my family were a no-nonsense practical way of getting calories. We were presented with a plate of food and were expected to finish it. That’s it. No alternatives, no cajoling and no discussions about how carrots make you see well in the dark. In fact, my mother never really worried about nutrients. Vegetables were considered somewhat inferior to more filling options such as meat and rice and I have no memories of her ever bothering to tell me that greens were healthy.
She never restricted sweets, either. But they were expensive and we could not have them often. When I craved something sweet, some bread and homemade jam seemed to be just right.
Now in the environment I am raising my children the pyramid is turned upside down: my children are surrounded by processed snacks conveniently available around the clock and bombarded by confusing nutritional messages, often carefully crafted by food manufacturers and marketers.
So what do I do in order to raise my kids as healthy eaters? Interestingly, the same principles my mother followed, willingly or not, seem to work beautifully in my Spanish/Russian/American family. Cooking from scratch and not fixating on nutritional properties of foods became customary family mealtime principles for us. I am a registered Dietitian with a Master degree in Nutrition Education but I never speak to my children about nutrition.
Instead, I speak to them about food, the flavors, colors and textures they are happily exploring. I make the food taste great by adding good amounts of seasoning and fat, just like my mother did. I spend a considerable amount of time in the kitchen but I consider it a long-term investment in my children’s health and eating habits. I am not looking for perfection or elaborate combination of flavors when I cook, but I make sure to put a meal on the table everyday despite our busy schedules and tempting stacks of takeaway menus in the lobby.
I am thankful to have a dinner table that is big enough for all of us to sit at the same time and we are putting it to a good use. All activities are scheduled around our family time at dinner, because my husband and I believe that eating together is at least as important as piano or swimming lessons, if not more.
And I know my mother enjoys sitting down to a meal together with my family when she comes to visit. And I hope she can feel the love and care I put into preparing our simple dishes just like she did many years ago for me.
Natalia Stasenko believes that helping children adopt balanced eating habits early in life is essential for their future relationship with food and for healthy family dynamics. As a mother of two, she has a first-hand experience trying to feed her family nutritious meals without losing her mind. Her mission is to help parents guide their children towards balanced eating habits in evidence-based, simple and delicious ways while keeping their own wellness goals in check. You can connect with Natalia on Twitter (@NataliaStasenko) and Facebook.
by Liz Weiss, MS, RD
My mom and dad just celebrated 57 years of marriage and the 50th anniversary of their GE refrigerator. When I walk into their kitchen, it’s like taking a step back in time. Besides the hum of that old fridge (and no, it is not energy efficient), my mom’s home-cooked meals are essentially the same as the ones I ate as a kid. They are simple yet satisfying; no recipe required.
 My parents pose proudly in front of their antique fridge! In today’s world of TV cooking shows, food blogs, celebrity chefs, and glossy cookbooks, my mom relies on a few yet flavorful ingredients – meat from her local butcher, seafood from the local fish market, fresh and dried fruit, and lots of veggies and aromatics.
 My mom at this year’s Thanksgiving feast with my husband, Tim – the official turkey carver --- and my sister, Amy The culinary lessons I learned from my mother (a former elementary school home ec teacher!) have followed me into my own kitchen. Over the years, I’ve adapted her “recipes” and cooking style to fit my own family’s tastes, and I’ve lightened things up given all the knowledge I posses (as a dietitian) about health and nutrition.
Lessons Learned …
Keep Things Simple: I love trying out new recipes. In fact, I have more cookbooks than I know what to do with. But at the end of the day, the favorite meals in my household are throwbacks to what I enjoyed as a kid. One of those dishes is a baked ziti my mom invented made with ground beef and lots of mozzarella cheese. My makeover version, which we affectionately call Mama’s Amazing Ziti, is still hearty but it’s made with lighter ingredients like lean ground beef and part-skim cheese, and I toss in some shredded carrots for good measure.
Fruits and Vegetables with Every Meal: My mother has always been a big proponent of fruits and vegetables. And as the old saying goes, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree … so I too make a point of having lots of produce on my family table. I realize vegetables can be a tough sell for some kids, so I make an effort to add bright flavors to veggies and I’m always mindful of textures. My mom loves to sauté zucchini, onions, and summer squash, which is a bit too mushy for my son, Josh. Instead, we like to sauté baby spinach in evoo and then sprinkle with kosher salt; it’s always a huge hit. .
Enjoy Your Time in the Kitchen: For all the years I’ve hung out at my mother’s apron strings, I never once heard her complain about cooking or the time it took to get a meal on the table. She’s organized, keeps ingredients to a minimum, and always makes enough so there are leftovers. My dad is a well fed guy! She is big on brisket, stews, and soups and never hesitates to send my dad outside to fire up the grill. It’s no wonder I love stews and soups, but as a working mom, I turn to my slow cooker whenever I can. (My mom has never touched one.) Pulled Pork Primavera sandwiches is one of those recipes my kids ask for over and over again.
 Hanging out with my mom in her kitchen with the New York Times Cookbook. Wishing everyone a happy Mother’s Day. Now get into the kitchen and get cooking!
As a registered dietitian and mother of two boys, Liz Weiss, MS, RD is on a mission to help busy families eat better. For recipes and mealtime tips, check out her cookbook, No Whine with Dinner: 150 Healthy, Kid-Tested Recipes from The Meal Makeover Moms. You can also read her blog, Meal Makeover Moms’ Kitchen or listen to her weekly radio podcast, Cooking with the Moms.
by Christiane Baker
At Edible Schoolyard NYC, we teach our students the importance of sitting down at a communal table and taking pleasure in sharing food with the ones they love. For us, this all starts by teaching our students to take pleasure in the hard work that gets food to the table and how their food choices not only affect their health, but the health of the environment.
In October 2010, we established our first Showcase School at P.S. 216 in Gravesend, Brooklyn where we transformed a half-acre parking lot into a fertile garden where our students grow more than 60 varieties of fruits, vegetables, grains and herbs. As part of our goal to make edible education accessible to all of NYC’s pubic school children, we are in the process of establishing a Showcase Schools in each of the five boroughs of New York City. At every Showcase School, Edible Schoolyard NYC will build an organic, four-season garden and Kitchen Classroom where our staff will teach our integrated and interdisciplinary curriculum, provide family and community programming and training for teachers and principals throughout New York City.
Research (and our daily experiences at Edible Schoolyard NYC) show that involving children in the growing and preparing of their own food can have a lasting effect on their eating habits. Students who grow and harvest their own vegetables are more likely to eat them. They also show a willingness to try new foods, which is often the first step toward developing healthier eating patterns.
In our garden classes at P.S. 216, we see students begging to get a taste of the lemon sorrel they grew themselves and scrambling for seconds of salads full of greens they watched sprout from the ground. We have seen students who have resisted eating vegetables throughout their lives learn to open their minds and eventually their mouths to new foods…and it turns out that they love them! Some of the most promising stories we’ve heard are those of the students who take these new lessons home to their families. We hear stories of students who request that their parents buy radishes at the store, who ask to help prepare a recipe they learned in the garden and who demand their family sit together to eat. As our visionary Alice Waters says “setting the table with a tablecloth and flowers, and sitting down to eat together, even for twenty minutes, creates a different model of eating and relating for children used to inhaling meals on the run.” This is the relationship we hope they take home with them and continue to practice throughout their lives.
Last summer we hosted a family program where students and their families spent four consecutive days together doing garden work and preparing a meal together. One mother said her family made a point to sit down together to eat dinner every night after camp and talk about the important things they had learned that day in the garden. For us, this is the mark of a truly successful garden program – one that instills in our students and their families a sense of pride and excitement about the food choices they make. Choices they are eager and excited to share with others around the table.
Christiane Baker is the Executive Director of Edible Schoolyard NYC, a nonprofit organization that works to incorporate health, wellness and sustainability into New York City’s public school curriculum through lessons taught in the garden and kitchen classroom. Our long-term goal is to combat childhood obesity by providing all of New York City’s 1.1 million public school students access to an edible education.
To learn more about Edible Schoolyard NYC please visit us at www.esynyc.org, sign up for our newsletter, follow us on Twitter (@ESYNYC) and friend us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/esyny).
Gardening with kids can improve their diet!
by Kia Robertson
Humans of all ages tend to take interest and care of things that matter to them, whether it’s animals, clothes, toys or their bodies. Fruits and vegetables can be a “tough sell” to kids and I think one way we can change that is to nurture their relationship with food through the magic of gardening. When kids are invested in and involved with growing something they eat, it naturally stirs up feelings of ownership, wonder and pride. Want proof of this phenomenon? Have you ever tried to recycle a drawing, an old school project or take apart a kid’s Lego creation? It can result in tears! Our kids are really attached to what they create so why not take that sense of pride and ownership into the garden!
Kids like what they know!
Kids are creatures of comfort, most tend to like what they know, this concept is discussed in one of my favorite books called French Kids Eat Everything by Karen Le Billon. One of the biggest things I took away from Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution show was that a lot of kids don’t know fruits and vegetables! Jamie was in a classroom holding up produce, and so many kids couldn’t name simple ones like tomatoes. By getting our kids gardening, they will know what they grow! So let them help you pick out the seeds, plant them and help them grow with watering and even weeding. Not only will they take great pride in what they have grown… they will know their food very well by the time it comes to tasting it!
Where do you start?
If you have the space to garden, you could devote a certain area for your kids to plant their own garden, or you could just keep it as one big family garden. Since kids love color so much, you could plant a Rainbow Garden. Think of planting produce that will be red, orange, yellow, green and blue/purple! Another idea is to plant produce that germinates quickly. This will appeal to kid’s joy of instant gratification because it can be disappointing for them to plant a seed and not be able to see anything growing for a while. Radishes are great for this because they come up in three or four days! Other popular choices zucchini, carrots, lettuce, peas and strawberries.
What if you don’t have outdoor space?
No problem! Your kids can grow herbs in small pots or the next time you buy a stalk of celery cut off the stalks leaving the bottom and put it in a glass jar with some water… your kids will be thrilled to see new celery growing from the old stalk in a few days!
Many cities now have community gardens so even if you don’t have your own yard you can still grow some of your own food! If none of those options will work for your family, you can always take your kids to a farmers market where they can talk to the people that grow their food! That is another way to help them form a connection with the food they eat.
Raising Happy Healthy Eaters
“Tell me, I forget. Show me, I remember. Involve me, I understand.” – Carl Orff
This is one of my favorite quotes when it comes to my philosophy of parenting, whether it’s cooking, gardening or any other skill I want to pass on to my daughter.
Gardening can be really magical for kids. Planting seeds, watching them grow into plants and turn into something they can eat is such a great experience! I think one of the best ways to get kids to enjoy fruits and vegetables is to engage as many of their senses as possible – smell, sight, taste, touch – gardening is a great way to incorporate all of these! When kids associate fruits and vegetables with something fun, they are much more likely to give them a try and what could be more fun than playing in the dirt and watching their food grow!
Growing produce and growing good eaters takes practice, persistence and patience. Gardens and kids are very similar; they are magical, fun, and always worth the effort you put into them!
Happy Healthy Growing,
Kia
Kia Robertson is a mom and the creator of the Today I Ate A Rainbow kit; a tool that helps parents establish healthy habits by setting the goal of eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day. Kia is passionate about creating tools that help parents raise healthy kids!
by Mike Lieberman
April 22 is Earth Day this year and Blog for Family Dinner has been focusing on greening your family dinner. One way that’s been highlighted is by eating food grown from you garden.
What about those of us that don’t have the space or room for a garden?
That’s a common excuse why most people don’t grow their own food and it’s where I come in to help you out.
You can be certain that you don’t need a big garden plot to have your own vegetable garden. Want some proof? Here is my fire escape garden in NYC from 2009.
That fire escape is where I first started to have my organic garden. You have to have more space than that.
The techniques and strategies that you are going to read are from my personal experiences and have been used by my readers as well.
You might have read other gardening books or web sites. I know that I did and was horribly bored, confused and overwhelmed.
They were not speaking to me and my needs. This is why I provide information that is practical and to the point.
There is only one thing that I ask of you before you continue reading, you will take action.
If you can’t make that promise, please stop reading.
How to make your urban garden a reality:
1. Pick your garden plot.
I’ve included several ideas to help you think about your space differently and think about how you can use it for a garden.
2. How much sunlight your garden get?
This is one of the most important steps.
Why?
Tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers won’t grow in a spot that gets only 3 hours of sunlight. If you attempt to, you are setting yourself up for failure.
After reading this post, you’ll know how to figure out the amount of sun your space gets.
3. Deciding what to grow
Once you have your plot picked and know how much sunlight you get, you can narrow down your choices even further. There are a few questions that you can ask yourself to help do so.
4. Buying from safe seed sources
Avoiding pesticides and eating healthy foods are the top reasons why you are growing your own food, so you are going to want to buy seeds from a company that you can trust. In this post, there is a list of 3 seed companies that value your health and the environment as much as you do.
Those are just the beginning. There is more to come so be sure to connect with me on on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or at UrbanOrganicGardener to keep updated.
Now get to growing!
Mike Lieberman is the publisher of UrbanOrganicGardener.com where he shows people with little to no land how to start growing their own food so they can avoid toxic pesticides, eat healthier and not feel limited by their lack of experience and space.
 Young seedlings at Glacial Lakes Permaculture. Photo by Karl Schmidt. by Karl Schmidt
Every time I go down to my basement and think about the little seedlings that will soon pop up their little heads from the flats I’ve set out, under the light of fluorescent bulbs, and warmed gently from below by seedling mats, I imagine spring is just around the corner. It’s not, of course. The temperature outside is 35 degrees and snow is falling. But the seedlings represent many things to me, including hope.
Growing your own seedlings indoors from seed isn’t terribly difficult, but it does take a bit of planning, a few resources, and a commitment of some time. I imagine that most people might not think the effort worth it, even if they do grow a food garden. When I mention that I start many of my plants from seed indoors, people are often surprised and wonder why I don’t just go down to the local garden center or nursery and buy them.
 Seeds tucked into planting medium in trays. Photo by Karl Schmidt.
While it is certainly more expedient to do so, buying plants from a nursery has its downsides, too. Chief among them is that you can’t buy organic plants from most retail nurseries. They typically get their resale stock from larger wholesale nurseries who grow millions of plants, and who use artificial fertilizers and other chemicals to get the plants nice and stocky for sale. Who hasn’t marveled at the half-inch thick tomato plant stalks at the local garden center? My plants don’t look like that, but then I don’t use chemicals. So, if you want organically-grown plants, you won’t likely find them at your local nursery.
Another reason to start your plants from seed is the ability to choose your varieties. Plant nurseries typically offer what they think people will buy. Much of that has to do with people’s experience with plants. If people are used to seeing ‘Black Beauty’ eggplants at the local grocery, that’s also the same variety that will likely sell well at the local nursery. But there are so many more varieties of eggplant to choose from, including a wide range of colors (even white—hence the origin of the plant’s name), if one is willing to start from seed. This is true for so many varieties of food plants. Go to your local nursery and look around. And then look at a good seed catalog. You’ll be amazed at the wider range of options if you grow from seed.
Lower cost is also a reason to start your own plants from seed. While there are some initial start-up costs involved in starting from scratch, they will quickly pay for themselves in terms of varieties available. Depending upon the size of the plant you buy at a nursery, they can sometimes be $5 or more a piece. If you buy 10 plants of that sort, you’ve paid the cost of a seedling mat that will serve you for some years to come. Seeds themselves are relatively inexpensive. So, if you’re willing to spend the time, you can grow hundreds of plants for much less than you’d pay for the same at a nursery.
 Save some money and extra equipment by using regular fluorescent shop lights to start your seeds in low-light conditions. Photo by Karl Schmidt.
If you’re still interested in starting seedlings indoors, these are the steps involved:
- Get some seed catalogs and peruse the many options. Buy some seeds.
- Buy a seedling mat. Small mats, capable of holding two standard-size flats of plants can be purchased on-line for $50.
- Buy some plastic seed-starter flats and some packaged seed starter mix (obtainable at most local stores that carry garden supplies). Die-hards will want to use soil blocks and make their own starter mix, and this is certainly more sustainable, but don’t let inexperience keep you from learning this practical skill. Once you gain the experience of growing plants from seeds, you can always invest in better (and more sustainable) equipment and supplies.
- Decide what plants you wish to start. Warm season plants are the most common to start from seed, and include tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. These should be started 6-8 weeks before your last day of frost in the spring. Serious seeders may wish to start onion seeds indoors as well. These might profitably be started 8-10 weeks before the last day of frost.
- Follow the directions on the seed-starter packages. The seedling mix goes into the plastic trays. Put in the seeds at the correct depth as indicated on the seed packets, water, cover with the see-through plastic dome and put on the warmed seedling mat. In about a week to 10 days (for most seeds), you’ll see little plants begin to emerge from the seedling mix.
- Lighting is important, as the plants will need light. Inexpensive, fluorescent shop lights will do the trick. They cost only about $20 and will provide two tubes of light for your plants. Don’t bother with the special ‘grow bulb’ tubes; regular cool white or sun spectrum bulbs will work just fine and are cheaper.
- Keep your little seedlings moist, but not wet, as otherwise you might get ‘damping-off’ and your seedlings will die.
- When the seedlings get their second set of leaves, you can transplant them into bigger pots to allow them to continue their root growth.
 A seedling mat is a must have if your starter space is normally very cool. Photo by Karl Schmidt.If you have space indoors near a sunny window, you can move your new plants there to start getting natural light.- Before the plants are ready to plant outside, they’ll need to adjust to being in full UV light and adjust to outside conditions. This should be done gradually, through a process called ‘hardening off’. The pots or plant flats should be left outside in partial shade in a safe location (avoid windy spots) for a few hours a day, to allow them to adjust to their new condition. This process might take 10 days or longer, but will ensure that the plants will survive and thrive once you plant them in their respective locations in your garden.
- Once the plants are in the ground, tend them as you would normally.
It might seem like a lot of work, but starting your own plants from seed will be rewarding. And when you slice into that first heirloom tomato of the season and it’s a variety you’ve never seen in the local nurseries, you’ll enjoy it all the more!
Karl Schmidt is an experienced permaculture teacher and designer and founder of Glacial Lakes Permaculture, a business and demonstration site dedicated to permaculture education, design, research, and consulting. In addition to Glacial Lakes Permaculture, Karl is also a contributor to Sustainable Dakota Digest, where you may find additional similar articles.
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