Enter the Baby Garden
’)
So yesterday I read about this author who was looking for eco-experts to comment for a book she’s writing on greener parenting. And here’s what she wanted to know: How does one plant a garden for a new eater? Like squash, potatoes, etc. So that the little budding veggies would come up at the same time as the child’s little budding incisors.
And I thought: What the f*&k?
I mean, has it come to this? If you want to be a greener parent, you have to actually go out, till the soil, plant the seeds, time the growth, all for a stinking sweet potato? All, presumably, when gigantically pregnant or having recently given birth, since this stuff takes a few months and babies basically start eating at six.
Has this woman even had a child?
Here’s what I was doing when I was pregnant with the last one: Chasing after the other two. Here’s what I did right after the first one was born: Slept. Or tried to.
My point is: Being a greener mommy (or daddy) doesn’t have to be an “I’m on a mountaintop with my Birkenstocks and my hemp baby sling” kind of experience. Its the little, doable, barely perceptible (to your baby, and your husband, maybe) changes–the kind of changes that you’ll actually stick to–that make the most difference, I’ve found.
Organic fruits and veggies are obviously important, because babies and children eat so much more of them and so get a much higher concentration of the pesticides and insecticides the regular ones are grown with. Like an ADD kind of high concentration. Or maybe that’s just my first-born.
But does that mean you have to grow your own? You could, but if you and your baby are on-the-go, buy the jars of organic baby food. They cost literally like two cents more, and can be found at any supermarket. Or better yet, because they contain less salt and preservatives, get the little tubs in the flash frozen section or the refrigerator aisle–but you might have to hit up Whole Foods for those.
I love my organic garden. When the economy is in the toilet, it just plain makes sense for me to grow lettuce and tomatoes that can save us $30 a week.
But stressing my garden to feed my baby? In my dreams. That is, if I ever got enough sleep to have them.
