Counting beans, losing a crop to aphids, and the first real experience of patience.
Our beans failed in March. Aphids, and a group of four-year-olds who had watered them twice a day for six weeks. We did not hide it. We looked at the leaves together, drew the insects, and asked what we should try next.
A worksheet about plant life cycles takes four minutes and is always correct. The garden takes ten weeks and is sometimes a disaster. Only one of the two teaches a child that effort and outcome are related but not identical — which is, in the end, most of what resilience means.
We replanted in April. The second crop went to the kitchen, and every child who had watered got to eat something they grew.
Omar Sabri
Written by — Growora
