Welcome to the May Carnival of Natural Parenting: Growing in the Outdoors

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have shared how they encourage their children to connect with nature and dig in the dirt. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

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I moved twelve houses down the block so that my son could have the woods as his backyard.

Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, as there were a whole lot of other considerations to our intra-neighborhood move two years ago this July. But it’s true that backing up to county property was a big draw over the busy corner where yellow school buses were the most predominant form of wildlife. By contrast, this winter we had six deer looking to nibble on our remaining nubs of kale.

We are just entering our second summer in this house, and the effects of this location are pretty powerful for me. The ability to look out and watch the seasons change so clearly and profoundly makes me feel so much more in tune with nature. We don’t have acres in the country with a corn field, fruit trees and two huge vegetable gardens like my parents did when I was young, but we do have a nice slice of non-suburbia to retreat to every day. Since we’ve chosen to live in the hectic, Type A, chaotic area of Metro D.C., I hope the site of our home helps my son feel grounded in the natural world.

Even before we moved, I was determined to find my green thumb so my son would not grow up afraid of gardening. I hadn’t absorbed a whole lot of knowledge since we moved to the suburbs when I was ten, so it really has been a full learning curve for me and my husband both.

Picking a strawberry with grandpa in 2008

Dressing the part (age two)

Playing with water, er, container gardening at the old house (age two)

Now that we have a more secluded space (and since this summer, I’m not pregnant!), I’m finally breathing into filling that space not just with some veggie attempts, but with beauty, too. I knew I couldn’t plant any flowers in concrete-like clay beds, so just this past week I’ve gotten help to turn them over.

In preparation for that, for the past few weeks, my son and I have been planting all the wildflower and sunflower seeds I had lying around in pots to transfer when they are big enough. We also started lots of peas inside a few months back and some other veggies. Normally the type of mom who takes months to send thank you cards and says the phrase, “Yeah, we really should finish…” way too often, this year I am walking the walk and literally getting things off the ground by getting them in the ground.

I’ve also started participating in a Waldorf-based homeschool group called “Nature Place” so that I can start to really live into some daily songs and rhythms and seasonal rituals that will help us feel connected to nature in our daily lives and our larger lives. Maybe by the time my daughter is her brother’s age (5), I will have less to learn and more to just enjoy with respect to a home life of calm that is based in a reverence for nature.

As for food, this year we have fenced off the garden so hopefully we’ll feed ourselves more than the wildlife.

Our garden this year, in front of the forest back yard

Throughout the year, we buy about a third to a half of our produce from a local farm that delivers once a week, which I find works a little better for me right now than a CSA. Our meat, milk, and eggs come from a local farm (a collaborative delivery/drop service), and last year my son and went to visit Polyface Farm to see a truly sustainable operation. It’s important to me that he knows what a farm should look like and how cows, pigs and chickens can and should live: out in the open, on pasture.

Having been a vegetarian for a long time, I now think it’s important to support sustainable farms that produce meat, especially since the genetically modified soy and corn and the mass-produced grain I consumed by the boatload to my detriment as an undiagnosed celiac are not doing any favors for the planet, either.

My husband and son do occasionally eat out (I can’t right now because of the GAPS diet I’m on), but when we talk about meat and vegetables we bring into the house, we try to point out when we know the farmer. I also sometimes refuse to buy food if it comes from too terribly far away (especially if we can get them locally) or really isn’t in season. We’re not purists, but eating seasonally and locally is certainly the goal.

We seem to have had some pretty busy weekends lately and have been missing the farmer’s markets, but I hope that the summer months will find me there more than the grocery store. I love for my son to talk to the people who grew his food!

Although I thought I was a conscious consumer before I had children, it was the goal to overcome infertility that got me to make changes in my diet and it was the goal to grow a healthy family that has helped me find my way to making the kind of natural home that sustains me body, mind, and spirit.

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Visit Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

• Get Out! — Momma Jorje gives reasons she doesn’t think she gets outside enough and asks for your suggestions on making time for the outdoors.
• How Does Your Garden Grow? — The ArtsyMama shares her love of nature photography.
• We Go Outside — Amy at Peace 4 Parents describes her family’s simple, experiential approach to encouraging appreciation of nature.
• My Not-So-Green Thumb — Wolfmother confesses to her lack of gardening skills but expresses hope in learning alongside her son at Fabulous Mama Chronicles.
• Enjoying Outdoors — Isil at Smiling like Sunshine describes how her children enjoy the nature.
• Five Ideas to Encourage the Reluctant Junior Gardener — For the rare little ones who don’t like to get their hands dirty, Dionna at Code Name: Mama offers tips for encouraging an early love of dirt (despite the mess).
• Connecting to Nature — Mamapoekie shares how growing your own vegetable patch connects your child to nature and urges them to not take anything for granted.
• The Farmer’s Market Classroom — Jenn at Monkey Butt Junction shares how the Farmer’s Market has become her son’s classroom.
• Seeds — Kat at Loving {Almost} Every Moment’s hubby Ken shares his perspective on why gardening with their kiddos is so important . . . and enjoyable!
• Toddlers in the Garden — Laura at A Pug in the Kitchen shares her excitement as she continues to introduce her toddler and new baby to the joys of fresh veggies, straight from the garden.
• Nature’s Weave — MJ at Wander Wonder Discover explains how nature weaves its way into our lives naturally, magnetically, experientially, and spiritually.
• Becoming Green — Kristina at Hey Red celebrates and nurtures her daughter’s blossoming love of the outdoors.
• Little Gardener — Rosemary at Rosmarinus Officinalis looks forward to introducing her baby girl to gardening and exploring home grown foods for the first time.
• Cultivating Abundance — You can never be poor if you have a garden! Lucy at Dreaming Aloud reflects on what she cultivates in her garden . . . and finds it’s a lot more than seeds!
• Growing in the Outdoors: Plants and People — Luschka at Diary of a First Child reflects on how she is growing while teaching her daughter to appreciate nature, the origins of food, and the many benefits of eating home-grown.
• How Not to Grow — Anna at Wild Parenting discusses why growing vegetables fills her with fear.
• Growing in the Outdoors — Lily at Witch Mom Blog talks about how connecting to the natural world is a matter of theology for her family and the ways that they do it.
• A Garden Made of Straw — Kelly at Becoming Crunchy shares tips on making a straw bale garden.
• The Tradition of Gardening — Carrie at Love Notes Mama reflects on the gifts that come with the tradition of gardening.
• Gardening Smells Like Home — Bethy at Bounce Me to the Moon hopes that her son will associate home grown food and lovely flowers with home.
• The New Normal — Patti at Jazzy Mama writes about how she hopes that growing vegetables in a big city will become totally normal for her children’s generation.
• Outside, With You — Amy at Anktangle writes a letter to her son, a snapshot of a moment in the garden together.
• Farmer Boy — Abbie at Farmer’s Daughter shares how her son Joshua helps to grow and raise their family’s food.
• Growing Kids in the Garden — Lisa at Granola Catholic shares easy ways to get your kids involved in the garden.
• Growing Food Without a Garden — Don’t have a garden? “You can still grow food!” says Mrs Green of Little Green Blog. Whatever the size of your plot, she shows you how.
• Growing Things — Liz at Garden Variety Mama shares her reasons for gardening with her kids, even though she has no idea what she’s doing.
• Moments — UK Mummy Blogger explains how the great outdoors provides a backdrop for her family to reconnect.
• Condo Kid Turns Composter and Plastic Police — Jessica from Cloth Diapering Mama has discovered that her young son is a true earth lover despite living in a condo with no land to call their own.
• Gardening with Baby — Sheila at A Gift Universe shows us how her garden and her son are growing.
• Why to Choose Your Local Farmer’s Market — Naturally Nena shares why she believes it’s important to teach our children the value of local farmers.
• Unfolding into Nature — At Crunchy-Chewy Mama, Jessica Claire shares her desire to cultivate a reverence for nature through gardening, buying local food, and just looking out the window.
• Urban Gardening With Kids — Lauren at Hobo Mama shares her strategies for city gardening with little helpers — without a yard but with a whole lot of enthusiasm.
• Mama Doesn’t Garden — Laura at Our Messy Messy Life is glad her husband is there to instill the joys of gardening in their children, while all she has to do is sit back and eat homegrown tomato sandwiches.
• Why We Make this Organic Garden Grow — Brenna at Almost All The Truth shares her reasons for gardening with her three small children.
• 5 Ways to Help Your Baby Develop a Love of the Natural World — Charise at I Thought I Knew Mama believes it’s never too early to foster a love of the natural world in your little one.
• April Showers Bring May PRODUCE — Erika at NaMammaSte discusses her plans for raising a little gardener.
• Growing Outside — Seonaid at The Practical Dilettante discovers how to get her kids outside after weeks of spring rain.
• Eating Healthier — Chante at My Natural Motherhood Journey talks about how she learns to eat healthier and encourages her children to do the same.
• The Beauty of Earth and Heavens — Inspired by Charlotte Mason, Erica at ChildOrganics discovers nature in her own front yard.
• Seeing the Garden Through the Weeds — Amanda at Let’s Take the Metro talks about the challenges of gardening with two small children.
• Creating a Living Playhouse: Our Bean Teepee! — Kristin at Intrepid Murmurings shares how her family creates a living playhouse “bean teepee” and includes tips of how to involve kids in gardening projects.
• Grooming a Tree-Hugger: Introducing the Outdoors — Ana at Pandamoly shares some of her planned strategies for making this spring and summer memorable and productive for her pre-toddler in the Outdoors.
• Sowing Seeds of Life and Love — Suzannah at ShoutLaughLove celebrates the simple joys of baby chicks, community gardening, and a semi-charmed country life.
• Experiencing Nature and Growing Plants Outdoors Without a Garden — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now shares some of her favorite ways her family discovered to fully experience nature wherever they lived.
• Garden Day — Melissa at The New Mommy Files is thankful to be part of community of families, some of whom can even garden!
• Teaching Garden Ettiquette to the Locusts — Tashmica from Mother Flippin’ (guest posting at Natural Parents Network) allows her children to ravage her garden every year in the hopes of teaching them a greater lesson about how to treat the world.
• Why I Play with Worms. — Megan of Megadoula, Megamom and Megatired shares why growing a garden and raising her children go hand in hand.

Although I was totally annoyed at my son for waking me up at 6:11 a.m., I also felt a little guilty that I was going to be dragging him to an appointment later that morning with nothing in it for him. Well, the practitioner was going to check him out, too, and at least she has toys, but this was no outing to the pool or a playdate with a friend.

So I figured I’d at least look into nature centers nearby so maybe we could run around before the 30+-minute (depending on Beltway traffic) trip home to Virginia.

Even though the Montgomery County website made Locust Grove Nature Center sound less than spectacularly compelling, it was 2 miles away and seemed worth a try. I called and was encouraged by the friendly voice, though I now believe she could have bragged a little more.

We were there for over two hours. Most nature centers have much bigger indoor exhibits, but this one had a lot of shaded play area outside and — how smart! — buckets of different kinds of toys to take along before you leave the center. We chose a bucket of sand toys but upon reaching the sandbox had to return inside to pee and, more importantly, to exchange the sifters and shovels for a bucket of trucks and cars. I cannot believe how long my son played with them on his own and then again with me after lunch. It was such a pleasant time in the little exploration zone, especially in the shade on a 90-degree spring (ha!) day. There were some great chimes to ring in the “music and movement” area and tree stump chairs to sit in that little one proclaimed to be “just his size.” (Has someone been reading him Goldilocks?)

Then there was the small artificial creek, a perfect prelude to the bigger creek a short hike down the hill and through a meadow (or wetland?). It was all quite lovely, and the kid actually fell asleep on the way home for about the third or fourth time in the past year.

And somehow, despite the fact that I slept only from midnight to 4:30 a.m. last night with a little extra once I moved to the cooler first floor (until I was pelted by a Curious George book in the 6:00 hour), I have remained in good spirits. I can’t help but think that getting out where it’s green had something to do with it.

Having someone in from out of town helps you see where you live with new eyes.

When my brother-in-law visited, I was kind of psyched that after my husband picked him up at Union Station, they got enjoy a lovely drive through the District — past the monuments — at dusk on a perfect summer-feeling evening (not very April-feeling, but still about as nice as it gets). I felt some pride in the fact that they found delicious gelato in Georgetown on a Friday night and that our visitor enjoyed the next day’s trip to MOMs, the natural food store we frequent most often.

And yet, I appreciate what living in a log cabin in rural Maine affords my BIL and what kind of rhythm that can foster. Sometimes I feel like I should live in the woods instead of just in a house that backs up to the woods, but I know I value urban life and convenience too much. I love being able to walk to a mini downtown, even if its restaurants are not organic. The grocery has some decent produce, and the library is right there. It feels like a community. And when Metro is not delayed or overstuffed with tourists, I think it’s pretty cool that I can hop on it and in less than 15 minutes, be at the American Art museum across the street from the library I attend an ICAN meeting.

This weekend, I was wary of track work delays on the Metro, so I decided to drive up to Bethesda to work the Holistic Moms table for a Celebrate Mama event. Now that downtown is one hoppin’ place. Lots of cool shops and restaurants. But even if we could afford to buy a home there — our house would probably sell for an extra $200K if it were plopped down in that zip code — I don’t think I would ever want to dress well enough and be cute enough to fit in.

So there is my living-on-the-border self. Not a homesteader, not a chic city girl or hip suburbanite, either. I liked driving up on Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues and seeing all the urban, cultural stuff going on. But it was busy and a little overwhelming, so on the way home, I took the Beltway to the GW Parkway, and I enjoyed the quiet serenity of the tree-lined and river-lined route, even though it was probably a couple more miles.

Although sometimes having too many options gets overwhelming (can anyone say Internet?), I do find that I like to put myself in the position of having them.

I think my shoulders are finally detaching from my ears. Fifty degrees and the disappearance of last week’s bone-chilling wind could not have come too soon.

I’m amazed at how different my attitude is now that I’ve actually had some warm, fresh air. The world feels open instead of hunched into a ball. I can leave my house without hours of preparation.

Yesterday we hiked in the woods behind our house to get to the park instead of walking along the sidewalk. Then we walked some more to meet a friend who recently moved nearby and walked back to the park. It was glorious. Even though I was sicker this week than I’ve been all winter and feel most of the day like my sinuses are blinking “drain me or I’ll explode,” after some time outside, the pain disappears, and my mood is vastly improved. The addiction to run to the computer is quelled, and I see remember how funny my son is.

Last week I went to a library story time featuring authors from Solar Publishing. After the reading, I bought their CD Earth Day Everyday, which is now on heavy rotation in our house. The vocals sing the praises of the sun, which I have come to appreciate these past days of thaw.

I don’t even care if I see the shiny yellow ball in blue skies as long as its beams somehow hit the DC area the way they are supposed to. I moved away from the Midwest to avoid the kind of cold, cutting winters we’ve been seeing glimpses of here recently. I know there have been at least two New Years Eve days here in NoVa when I’ve gone running in a t-shirt. But lately all I can do is bark at my son to stop playing when I pick him up at preschool because Mama is not in a snowsuit.

So today, I announce with joy that yes, that was my kid wearing Tevas with socks. In January. Now that is hot!

I just wrote this post at my column on the Washington Times Communities. The main idea is that I found this simple ceremony of children lighting candles and walking through a spiral of fresh evergreens to be profoundly moving.

It’s late, and I don’t know why the photo of the apple candle wasn’t loading to the longer article, but here it is. No photos of the actual event, beautiful as it was and as much as I’d like a postcard; that, of course, would take you out of the moment.