The Garden

Helping in the garden is both an expected and a necessary chore for the kids. They know that they need to, because the plants in the garden provide much of the food that they eat. Two days per week all the residential Center children work in the garden, doing various jobs. The youngest ones often carry small water buckets, or bring bags of manure from the animals to spread at the roots. Children a bit older will make sure the plot of garden they are responsible for has been thoroughly watered, and then they join in with weeding, hoeing, preparing new plots for planting, and planting the new vegetables. This garden provides the SOL family with more than enough greens for anyone, bananas, peppers, cabbage, and a variety of other vegetables.

Working in the garden was a great way to experience the importance of sustainability and self-sufficiency at Sunrise of Life.