We Grew it!!

Before Christmas, we planted a cucumber plant.  It has had a hard life, with no real attention over the holidays, and an extremely hot dry spot to live.  Since returning from our holidays, we have been showing it a lot of aroha.  Regular watering, assistance helping it climb, and using our gentle hands when playing near by.  All our love and attention has finally paid off with the production of two beautiful cucumbers.

We have been watching them grow over the last few weeks, and today it was finally time to pick them and use them in our cucumber sandwiches.  We picked and washed the cucumbers, before sitting down with our bread to butter it and arrange our sliced cucumbers.

Spreading the butter was quite difficult, as we needed to use the muscles in our hands and arms to position the knife and spread just enough over the bread.  Using our muscles to do this, was great practice for when we need these muscles to hold a pencil and form letters.

 

 

 

 

 

Our cucumber sandwiches were absolutely delicious, and gave us a lot of food for thought around caring for our environment, and all within it.  Without our love and care of our cucumber plant, it wouldn't have produced these cucumbers to nourish us.  Experiences where Tamariki are able to have a part in the production and preparation of food, contributes to their understanding about Papatuanuku, and the world around them, and that their actions directly impact the plants ability to produce food that they can eat.