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I loved my life in our terrace house in the inner Sydney suburb of Alexandria. It was our first home. We painstakingly restored the 1886 treasure; at one point living for about four months with no running water, no flushing toilets and very kind neighbours. I loved the buzz of the city and the convenience of having almost any cuisine we desired delivered to our doorstep. I will never forget when Juan Antonio Samaranch announced that Sydney had won the bid for the 2000 Olympic games. I could hear the entire city erupt – the ferry horns on the harbour blaring in celebration. Sydney is one of the most amazing cities in the world.
When I was a child growing up in the Sydney suburbs of Maroubra and South Coogee, we lived on a dead-end, dirt road. There was bush land across the road. The bush and the beach were our play grounds. My goodness! How things have changed. The once coastal bush land is now the home to eastern suburb mansions and the quiet, wide open spaces that we enjoyed as children are long gone. I wanted these wide open spaces for our children and so the search for rural living began.
Now settled in our little country village, I love that the future wine makers can run around with the chooks, ride their bikes across the paddocks or even on the quiet road out front. I love that they can roam around the vineyard with dad.
The future wine makers are fascinated by the vegetable garden, even if they are annoying little gardeners. They will walk along and pick a tomato, take a bite and then pick another. But, despite some of their wasteful tendencies, they love being involved in the growing process and eating fresh vegetables and fruit straight from the garden.
Collecting the eggs is the most exciting part of the day. There are squeals of delight when they gather the little treasures from the nesting boxes.
They also have a natural desire to ‘cook’ their garden bounty. My carpets are ruined due to their various attempts at cooking and plating up their garden haul (2 litres of ‘home made’ tomato sauce tipped on the carpet keeps the steam cleaner in a job).
As a parent there is a certain amount of satisfaction in watching your children munching on fresh picked produce. Getting them involved in the garden is certainly an easy way to get them to eat vegetables. You don’t need to be in the country to do this and a few pots of home grown vegetables would be a great way to entertain young children.
This article has 2 comments.
“lovely post Jen. I used to grow a multitude of veg on our huge block at Haberfield for my kids. They were always eating stuff straight from the vine, or carrots with the dirt still on lol. It is a very satisfying experience watching them picking and eating produce you have grown yourself. Having said that, they eat what they want now and vegetables tend not to count lol. all the best, @5pandas
-- Anna (June 25, 2010) ”