"Inch by inch, row by row..."

The boys and I have taken a leap of faith into the world of gardening. Last fall we ripped out an overgrown tulip tree that had completely taken over a sunny expanse along our fence. This left a big patch of bare dirt, and being a resident of the Bay Area, I thought to myself, "What would Alice Waters do?" Well, Ms. Waters would undoubtedly plant purple kale and heirloom beans and variegated okra. Then she would harvest her crops and prepare an award-winning vegetarian fritatta that her husband and children would love. Meanwhile, she would also use her 3 x 6 patch of earth to grow enough produce to single-handedly revolutionize school lunches and save the children of America from obesity and early death.

At that point, I decided to stop thinking about Alice Waters. My husband and children could happily subsist on neon orange macaroni and cheese. I'd be lucky to get a single vegetable down the gullet of any one of them, let alone into the bellies of chicken-nugget addicted children everywhere.

Maybe, I thought, if I could get Henry and Max involved in the garden, they would actually willingly eat some of the produce we were able to grow there! What a concept! A garden has dirt. The boys like dirt! A garden needs water. The boys love to water! A garden produces vegetables. The boys love...

Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

In any case, tilling the soil turned out to be a big hit. The boys have also helped me to water the plants each and every day. It's been a couple weeks and I'm happy to report that nothing is dead yet (though someone munched a few holes in the zucchini leaves and the basil looks spotty). In fact, several of the strawberry plants have actually sprouted little green strawberries! I live in the suburbs and I'm as "estranged from my labor" as any effete member of the bourgeousie is likely to be, so this really does strike me as a minor miracle. Real live produce actually growing in my own yard! Who would have thought it possible??!!

I'm not sure if any of the Gerber boys will actually eat healthier meals as a result of this little experiment, but it can't hurt. I think Alice Waters would approve.