Skip to content
← Journal

At homeFrom the archive

Grow it, watch it, eat it

Herbs, limes and okra at home and in a community garden: we grow them, watch them change and then use them in the kitchen.

We keep a small garden of pots at home. We plant things, we watch them grow, and then we use or eat what they give us. For us this is Integrate: what we notice about Allah's creation becomes part of an ordinary day, right down to what goes into the cooking.

Planting

It starts with a pot. We line the bottom with a piece of net so the soil stays in, fill it with potting soil, and plant. Children can do every step of this, and it is a good moment to ask what a seed or a cutting needs in order to grow.

A clay pot lined with green net and half filled with dark potting soil
A clay pot lined with green net and half filled with dark potting soil

Watching things grow

Most of the garden is in pots. In October 2021 our lime tree had a hand-written "Lime" marker, with fig leaves beside it and a paper pinwheel nearby.

A potted lime tree with a hand-written "Lime" marker, fig leaves and a paper pinwheel
A potted lime tree with a hand-written "Lime" marker, fig leaves and a paper pinwheel

Some things we just watched. In December 2020 a dried pod hung on a thin stem in one of the pots. In December 2022 a young okra plant put out its first small pod.

A dried pod hanging from a thin stem in a pot
A dried pod hanging from a thin stem in a pot
A young okra plant with its first small pod
A young okra plant with its first small pod

From the pot to the kitchen

In September 2021 we cut sprigs of herbs from the garden and ground them for cooking.

A hand holding freshly cut sprigs of a small-leaved herb
A hand holding freshly cut sprigs of a small-leaved herb
The herb leaves in a food-chopper bowl, ready to grind
The herb leaves in a food-chopper bowl, ready to grind

We also grow limau kasturi and lemongrass on our ledge. Here one of the children is picking limes into a bowl.

A child picking small limes from the tree into a yellow bowl
A child picking small limes from the tree into a yellow bowl

Beyond our home

Some of our growing happens outside the house. In March 2022 we photographed okra growing in a community garden plot under blue netting, and on the same day the roots of a plant that had been pulled up.

Okra pods growing in a community garden plot under blue netting
Okra pods growing in a community garden plot under blue netting

Daddy also does public gardening and gets the family involved. Here he is planting a young curry leaf tree in a community plot, barefoot, working the mud around its roots. Once it was in, he watered the planting hole well, so the tree was standing in a pool of muddy water.

Daddy, in a bucket hat, pressing mud around the roots of a young curry leaf tree
Daddy, in a bucket hat, pressing mud around the roots of a young curry leaf tree

We planted it when the children were just about primary school age.

If you want to try this at home, start with one plant your child can eat from, such as limes or a herb. Let them check on it every few days and tell you what has changed. When it is ready, let them do the picking, and cook with it the same day.

More from the journal