Vegies....not so gross afterall.

Growing up, I wasn't allowed any dessert until I had finished my vegies. I fine tuned the art of hiding my uneaten vegetables underneath my chicken or chop bones. I wonder if I really did get away with it all those years. Now I am a parent myself, I wouldn't be suprised if mum knew all along. I never did have any kind of appreciation for the nutritious benefit of vegies until well after I married Job. Even now, its still a bit of an effort to eat them - seems to have rubbed off on the kids a little too.

But now, in the true Tasmanian form, I decided it was time to plant a vegie garden!! As with all projects I undertake, I threw myself into gardening books and magazines. I also tape the ABC gardening show everyweek and watch it with JJ. I drew out plans of how I was going to fit 6 garden beds (one of each family member) into the backyard. I figured I would knock some wood together and let the kids have fun painting their own borders and filling them with what they liked to eat.

That was the dream.

The reality of it was much more expensive......so I scaled it all down just a bit:

So they're not the biggest garden beds, but they do the job. I've had fun going to the local garage sales looking for more planters. I have been lucky enough to pick up a few wooden ones for a couple of dollars each. Sometimes I suprise people when I ask if I can empty their items out of their old wooden crate and keep the crate.

So here's how the vegies look now (a few weeks later.) I have already picked some of the Asian greens and added them to stir frys. The kids think I'm putting grass in thier food and pull it out. My parents will find some joy in that. Aparently it gives them some satisfaction when our kids repeat the behaviour we put our parents through.

I originally wanted to keep most of the kitchen vegies at the front of the house near the kitchen door but unfortunately our dog chews everything in sight I've had to keep them in the back part of the yard. We have a cute little white bunny that has free roam out there so to stop her from eating the greens, hubby and I picked up a $10 garage sale table and popped the vegies up there. If we continue with this sort of pattern, we'll be purchasing a lot of tables..

Here's our cute bunnies (2 new additions in the last couple of weeks)

 The big white one is only allowed visiting privileges with the two little ones as she likes to chase and torment them.