when they finally came loose . It was so much fun !” they tell me , as their physically powerful grandmother and expert horticulture teacher , Liliana , stands at their side , exuding an air of self-confidence , amusement and pride .
The COVID-19 pandemic is currently raging uncontrollably throughout the United States and yet these children are having the time of their lives in a safe environment while learning responsibility , cooperation and the multitudinous and wondrous ways of the bountiful earth . Because , they are in close contact with the earth and all of its teeming , often invisible biological life , they are quite naturally becoming resistant to ordinary bacteria and other would-be harmful organisms that abound in our midsts , while growing physically stronger and more resilient .
They are also pursuing adventure for the sake of adventure — the one constant in the hearts of all children — in as many forms as they can possibly conjure . On a day when the family is irrigating the garden and none of the adults are watching , six-year-old Dominic goes up to the watergate and opens it full blast . Huge streams of water gush out of the acequia and into a ten-inch diameter aluminum pipe that serves as the garden ’ s main artery for irrigation . Soon , the field begins to disappear under a lake of water while Dominic revels in his new found powers . Luckily this act of indiscretion is soon found out by his mother and she rushes to close the gate before serious damage is done .
Without any prodding from anyone , three-year-old Logan ,
It appears that she is perfectly aspects of life in addition to many content to trim the ends of onions others . Instead of learning about destined for market with a pair of these concerns at special times scissors for hours or else walk back during the day inside of stifling and forth any number of times carrying bundles of sunflowers from three González siblings are learn-
and lifeless school buildings , the
the field to a staging ground where ing about all of these phenomena they will be loaded onto the family in the illimitable spaces of nature , and at the marketplace , in vehicle . She is not so much passive or resigned to her tasks as she is an integrated fashion and in the centered and fulfilled . service of food production and the
But are these children learn- cultivation of plants , herbs , trees takes off his clothes and jumps Dominic and grandmother , Liliana into a small pool of water where picking a variety of Chile called “ Peking irrigation water has accumulated Chile ,” an old variety in New Mexico . at one end of a long pipe . He soaks , splashes and otherwise enjoys the ing language , math , history and magical substance we call water science ? They most certainly are until he exhausts himself an hour because the adults that accompany and a half later . Eleven-year-old them consistently communicate Mía , its seems , is the only one of substantively and thoughtfully the children who does not need with them and amongst themselves about these to go to extremes to enjoy herself . important
Decades ago , María Montessori , famed Italian educator and founder of the Montessori Schools which have been adopted the world over , recognized that children thrive in garden settings like nowhere else . plenty I autumn harvest 2020 25