Cultivating Old-Fashioned Abundance in the Kitchen Garden

In the fast-paced world we live in, where convenience often trumps connection, the kitchen garden has been all but forgotten. Add in the hustle and bustle of motherhood, where finding moments of solace (and time to gather your thoughts) can be hard to find, and it’s no wonder that boxed and pre-made meals have taken over our lives.

How have we become so disconnected from what’s truly important — nourishing our families with homegrown and home-cooked meals and truly living our lives together?

And, more importantly, how do we get back to it? The answer is simple: the kitchen garden.

A kitchen garden with two 4’x8’ raised beds and two arched trellises for vertical growing.

What is a Kitchen Garden?

A Kitchen Garden, called a Kailyaird in Scotland and a Potager in France, is a garden near the home where herbs, leafy greens, root crops, fruiting plants & edible flowers are grown for every day use in the kitchen.

The concept of a kitchen garden brings us back to our roots, literally. It can teach us to slow down, be more present, and live more intentionally. It’s time to bring back that lost old-fashioned life we crave so deeply.

A kitchen garden is tended regularly, planted seasonally, and harvested for every day use in the kitchen. It can be as small as several small containers on a porch or patio, or as large as a formal raised bed garden that covers several hundred square feet.

A kitchen garden with four 4’x4’ raised beds and obelisk trellises for vertical growing.

Why a Kitchen Garden?

One important distinction of a kitchen garden from a vegetable patch is that it is designed to be a central feature in your yard that is separate from the rest of the landscape.

1. Connect with Nature

A kitchen garden not only provides seasonal garden abundance, but also transforms your landscape into a space to nurture nature right outside your back door. Whether you have a sprawling backyard or a small patio, the adaptability of the kitchen garden makes connecting with nature accessible to everyone. You’ll feel calm and re-charged every time you step outside your back door and into your green sanctuary.

2. Elevate Your Cooking

When you grow your own food, you know that it is better-than-organic. You’ll feel good about the meals you cook for your family and your kids will love plucking fresh cherry tomatoes and bell peppers off the vine and eating them right there in the garden. In our home, we call this garden candy, because it is so flavorful! Your meals will be packed full of flavor because you’ll pick your ingredients at their peak ripeness. The best part, is you can customize your garden to your family’s tastes and grow whichever varieties you like. Your picky eaters will gobble up what you put on the table, because they will have been a part of growing, harvesting and cooking their meal.

3. Be Sustainable

Growing your own food is a small, but important step toward old-fashioned, sustainable living. Currently, most of the food consumed by Americans is bought in grocery stores and has traveled more than 1,500 miles (known as ‘food miles’) to reach their table. In addition, most of this food is packaged in plastic, creating an incredible amount of waste.

As a busy mom of two little ones with teenage and adult stepsons, I understand the convenience all too well. However, I also know that by growing my own food in my backyard kitchen garden, I know that I am reducing my reliance on store-bought produce. Our food travels from our garden to our table and the only waste is our food scraps that we feed to our chickens and put into our compost pile, which will ultimately end up back on our table and back in our garden. And I’ll tell you, it feels pretty good.

4. Garden Therapy

It’s no secret that motherhood is the best, but hardest thing you’ll ever do. Mom overwhelm is real and taking care of yourself is vital, so that you can be your best self for your children. Gardening has therapeutic benefits. The act of nurturing seedlings, tending plants, and working soil with your hands is nothing short of magical. You’ll feel a new sense of purpose and accomplishment as you get back to your roots and learn to tend your own garden. Your garden will become your sanctuary, a place to re-charge your mom batteries, as well as a place to invite your children to learn and grow.

5. Grow Your Self

A kitchen garden is a space that is special to you. It invites you in and gives you solace when you need it. It is a space where you can connect with nature and where you can re-charge your mom batteries. It is a space to invite your children into, to build memories with them and teach them about where their food comes from. It is a space that you are proud of and feel a deep connection to. Most importantly, it is a space where you, yourself, will grow.

Incorporating a kitchen garden into your life has so many benefits. It has helped me connect with nature, teach my children where their food comes from, learn to enjoy cooking, reduce my reliance on store-bought herbs & produce, find solace on the days when motherhood is hard, and helped me cultivate old-fashioned abundance. It is why I feel so passionate about sharing it with you.

In the words of my mentor, Nicole Burke, when you learn to grow yourself, you grow your self.