Mother’s Day activity promotes bond between youth and nature

Newly established Mother's Gift Garden cultivated an appreciation of the outdoors in area children by getting them "up close and personal" with nature alongside mom on her special day.

On Sunday, Diane Clark and husband Bill Moran - proprietors of Greystone Nature Preserve, situated on 71 acres of scenic property off Bear Lake Road in the town of Pomfret - opened their home to the surrounding community, providing local families an opportunity to spend the day together while enjoying the natural world. Throughout the afternoon, children were invited to work alongside their mothers to arrange and tend their own vegetable gardens, while learning about the environment at the same time.

"This activity was inspired two months ago when Michelle Obama put in a family vegetable garden at the White House," Clark explained. "And we feel this is one thing Americans can do, especially in this economic crunch and especially with all the environmental dangers we have around us; grow your own vegetables, at least a few, and teach your children the vital importance of eating wholesome, organic foods."

Rather than taking mom out to a restaurant to gorge on high-calorie foods, Clark emphasized the concept of the Mother's Gift Garden as a healthy and educational alternative to traditional Mother's Day activities, one which can also reacquaint an increasingly obese generation of television-watchers with the beauty and excitement of the outdoors. In addition, she said it was a fun way to combat the growing belief - instilled in today's youth since early childhood - that dirt is bad and the outdoors is the backdrop for fear and danger, rather than adventure and knowledge.

Despite what your mom may have said for most of your life, Clark believes soil is rejuvenating and wholly beneficial, a natural source of life and the lifeblood of Mother Earth.

"We wanted to teach children that the dirt they've been hollered at about all their little lives is not a bad thing," she said, "and to teach them that dirt might be something that belongs in mother's laundry rooms, but soil belongs in everybody's life."

Participating youth began by working together to mix Vermiculite, peat moss and compost in a plastic children's pool using buckets and shovels to create a rich compound of soil for raising crops which would be used in their vegetable gardens. Afterward, Clark said each youth was also given a bag of the soil to take home as a reminder of its benefits and elements, which they learned about as they worked.

Youth were then taken outside to an existing vegetable garden before selecting seeds for their own personal gardens. In order to encourage a sense of ownership and responsibility, as well as foster a deeper connection with their gardens, they were allowed to pick their choice of 16 vegetables from a wide variety of seed packets, including broccoli, pumpkin and squash, basil, carrots, peas and beans, and lettuce. Finally, sheets of grid paper were given to the youth to plot out their gardens, and planters to begin the process.

Despite the cooler weather Sunday, Clark said the turnout was encouraging. In fact, she said most of the youth were reluctant to leave once they became involved in the gardening.

"We felt that the response was great," Clark said. "... We did this as an effort to get this news out to parents, that gardening is a good activity. Those who came were the people who wanted this information, and we feel it was a great activity to offer up to people who could or would be interested in gardening."

Although Mother's Day marked the inaugural day of the Mother's Gift Garden concept, Clark explained it will be an ongoing activity.

In addition, Clark said she and her husband are working to eventually make the Greystone Nature Preserve a public, not-for-profit organization. The mission of the preserve will be to promote agriculture and nature as positive aspects of everyday life, using gardening and the outdoors as hands-on learning tools.

"We want to connect kids to nature," she explained. "... We want educational programming that bonds kids to nature, like picking your own vegetables and growing them."