At my house, there is no such plan. We plant randomly, but with fervor. There are few successes, and more than a few bare spots where things refuse to survive. I don’t take it personally, I just plant something else in its place. Garden books are voraciously read through the winter months, but when spring comes, all knowledge and carefully made plans are obliterated at the first sight of a perennial sale.

We are going to have a real garden in the new rental house, no matter what. Enlisting the frenetic planting skills of a seven-year old boy, we got started at the first sight of a seed sale. My son doesn’t think that the planting directions are really important. He just wants to put the seeds in the ground and see what happens next. The single soybean that came home from school in a tiny bit of dirt is proudly growing in a beautiful blue pot next to the front door. We just want to see what happens next.

Along with the ever-extending line of terracotta pots filled with tomato plants, basil, pepper plants and cantaloupes, is the row of egg cartons filled hopefully with watermelon seeds, more cantaloupes, chives, carrots and purple basil. Only my son knows which one is which. He just wants to see them grow. I hesitate to tell him that the carrots might not make it – they are all carefully clustered into a very small pot. Small seeds, small pot. He has it figured out. Each afternoon, he tours his domain and shouts at anything new that is sprouting. The line of morning glory seeds along the front of the house is a bit disheveled, but the pride he takes in knowing that he planted something that is growing, is outstanding.

My daughter approaches planting methodically. Plant only a few things, but make sure that they are in the right sunlight, the right amount of shade. She actually reads the directions on the seed packages to decide where to grow her crop. This year, we are determined to attract butterflies and ladybugs. The hand-painted ladybug house is now surrounded by sweet pea seedlings and a row of sunflowers. Plants are carefully selected, based on their butterfly appeal. Someone in the neighborhood might object to the fact that they are growing in the small space between the sidewalk and the street, but our theory is that it looks better now than it did before. My daughter’s planting program is all about making things look beautiful. The strawberry pots that hang from the front porch are hers too. As the berries ripen one at a time, the hope still exists that there will be a big enough crop to share for breakfast.

I love the fact that my children understand the importance of growing things – sometimes, just for the sake of growing them. It is a rare year that our garden’s bounty is ample enough to keep us sustained through the summer, but we keep trying. The kids understand that the Saturday morning trips to the farmer’s markets are more than just an opportunity to say hello to every single dog at the market. They are starting to notice that there are always different fruits and vegetables for sale. They are inclined to take a risk and try vegetables that they would have otherwise rejected, simply because the farmer took the time to explain their wares to two curious minds. Beets have been offered, prepared and consumed. The farmer told them that they were sweet and delicious and he knows FAR more than mom or dad does. We had a small setback when the sweet peppers must have gotten crossed with the spicy ones. That particular booth is now given a wide berth, but they will be trusted again, especially when strawberry season starts. One night at dinner, one of my beloved offspring announced that he only likes apples from the farm market, because they taste better than the ones from the grocery store. Outstanding. A small victory for local produce.

It is never easy to get my children to eat different vegetables, but I find that they need to have some input about what should be served. For St. Patrick’s Day, I took them to the store and offered to make a dinner that was completely green – whatever they wanted, but it had to be naturally green, no food coloring. Thirteen green vegetables and herbs were gathered for the feast. And the feast was prepared by the enthusiastic guests. And devoured. The best meal, ever.

image via Flickr

When asked about planting, and what it means to them, I was surprised and optimistic about the responses from the kids. It is fun to watch things grow. I feel as if I am doing something important for the environment. We love to compost all year round so that we can make great soil for the gardens. Knowing how to grow things will help farmers stay in business. We like to make the gardens look beautiful and love to eat what we have grown in the garden. We like to go outdoors and pick herbs to use for dinner. The food that we grow tastes better – how can we grow more? What else can we grow?

Local foods taste better. The opportunity to work with local growers, local producers and farmers at Nourish at the IMA has opened up a whole new world for me, personally and professionally. There are so many wonderful and unexpected ingredients that are being produced within a 150 mile radius. Our menus change often, so that we can offer the freshest and best ingredients at their absolute peak. I have been stalking the vendors at the weekend farmers’ markets to see which products we can showcase at Nourish. It has certainly been a learning experience, but one that I enjoy sharing with my children.

They are listening, and they are hearing what I am trying to explain to them, but more importantly, they are discovering it for themselves. And the lesson that they discover is more powerful than the one I try to enforce.

Interview with Alice Waters
As published in the winter issue of the IMA’s Previews membership magazine

Q. What culture do you think has the most interesting relationship with food?
While I can only speak to the cultures I’ve visited, I find the Mediterranean culture of Southern Italy has a unique balance in their relationship with food. Food is part of the fabric of life there. It’s not on the side in the form of health or fueling up. It’s connected to meaningful everyday experiences. Sitting down at the table with family and friends is precious and important.

Q. What did you learn from your grandparents about food?
Not much. My grandparents were Irish English and it seemed to me that they liked to eat quite a lot, but that’s it. They had a narrow, limited diet. My parents were concerned about diet but didn’t know how to cook. My interest in food came from working in my parents’ Victory garden, and my passion came from traveling to France at the age of 19. The experience opened up a world to me.

Q. How are children in the Edible Schoolyard project transformed by food?
When kids are growing the food and cooking it themselves they build a sense of pride in what they are doing. When they serve it, they want to eat it, and their friends want to eat it. The ideas about food happen by osmosis. The values we talk about are absorbed by the kids in the process of working in the garden and kitchen. Science and history classes educate their senses and open their eyes to the world around them, not just to food.

Q. What’s the relationship between food and art?
You can set a table with flowers and cloth and it’s like magic. I think of art as magic. It nourishes us in beautiful ways that we can’t speak about. I see beauty as a way of caring. Both food and art offer the possibility of seeing the world in a different way.

The reason I’m interested in working with artists is to take food out of that ‘foody’ place and put it into the beauty of culture. Food is a universal language. We are digesting fast, cheap and easy. The consequences of the choices we make are destroying our world and our culture. I envision a place where an artist is curating the food. You would walk through a beautiful museum and food would be part of that experience.

Q. What artists inspire you?
Peter Sellars, Olafur Eliasson and Ann Hamilton – These artists have a way of surprising people and caring about the same set of values that I’m talking about.

Q. What’s in your refrigerator?
All the produce I brought back from a friend’s garden, jams given to me, milk, coffee, a bottle of Bandol Rose Wine, two small bottles of sweet wine from my daughter’s birthday, duck eggs, pickles, mustard, walnuts and hazelnuts, a couple lemons and Seltzer water.

Q. If you could be any food, what would you be and why?
It’s a toss up between being sweet like tomatoes or spicy like garlic.

Recipes from Alice Waters
If you are still unsure of what will dress the Thanksgiving dinner table tomorrow, try these recipes from the kitchen of Alice Waters.