September is the "Seed Savers" Month for Gardening Moms and Kids

If you are a frugal mom like me, then September is the "seed saver"month. All the herbs are dried up and the seeds are ripe for picking. If you share this activity with your kids, you will get the bonus of having many teachable moments. These are wonderful opportunities to sow your own seeds of knowledge for future generations.

My 5 year brought home a bean plant seedling at the end of last school year and told me all about how she planted this big white bean into her little Dixie cup and covered it with dirt and how they had been watering it at school. Her wide eyes lit up as she re-told how one day, "it just sprouted up!" She encouraged me to plant it in my garden so it could grow up. This Aug, I showed her the big bean pods that it had produced and had her open them up with me to see what was inside. She exclaimed, " Hey this is the same kind of bean that I planted last year"! "No Kidding', I responded. It cracked me up that she was just now realizing that the seeds you sow are the seeds you will reap.

Teachable moments like these are the best time to take it one step further and teach a lesson with deeper meaning. You can try and explain how loving people and being kind to people works the same way. If we sow seeds of love and kindness, we will reap the same things back. A lesson that is taught throughout the Bible. See Galations 6: 7-10 for a scriptural reference.

Here are 7 practical and fun ways to save seeds the PB and JAHM way: Simple, Fun, and Frugal!

1) Gather your children and explain to them that they are going on a treasure hunt to find treasures (seeds) that they can help you plant next spring and that these plants will grow the same flowers next summer. Also, teach them that this is a great way to get plants for FREE!

2). Recycle old junk mail envelopes to use as your seed saving containers for small seeds, like Morning Glory, Dill, and Basil.

3) Re-use chip tubs to save the more bulky seeds like Bee balm or the seed heads of Coneflower or Daisies...

4) Dry your seeds completely on a layer of paper-towels, or dish towels in the sun or inside for a few days.

5) Make sure your envelopes and tubes are dry and clean and can "breath". You may want to poke some holes in the tops of some of the plastic lids. Do not store seeds in plastic baggies. If they are not completely dried out, you will have a nice baggie of blue or black mold in a month or two. : (

6) Label all your seed containers and then let your kids put flower stickers on the envelopes and containers holding flower seeds. Put kitchen or food related stickers on the herb or garden vegetable seed containers. Don't forget to save an envelope for your Halloween pumpkin seeds. : )

7) SHARE your SEEDS with other gardeners and maybe even TRADE seeds! Free Gardening is Simple, Fun, and Frugal!!

© 2007 Kathy Kline Danner

www.PBandJAHM.com Become a Joy @ Home Mom