Zack and I began this project back in January and it has been something both of us have thoroughly enjoyed doing together! He loves being involved in and helping out with whatever is going on around the house and has always enjoyed hanging out in the garden with me. With this project, Zack felt like he was part of my schooling as well, which helped him understand that school takes time and effort and is something we need to takes seriously. For me, it helped me find another way to spend time with him, something that has been weighing on me heavily since starting University.  Whatever subject I was working on for homework, Zack would always ask if it was time to do homework for my ‘gardening’ class. We had fun planning out what seeds were going to plant and in through this, Zack learned that there was more than just one variety of each type of vegetable. We have always had a garden, and though he has always liked puttering about out there with me, he is now asking if we can plant all sorts of vegetables and is outside pulling rocks from another garden bed with his Dad as I write this.  I hope this is just the beginning of a lifelong passion for gardening for him. With all of the assignments I have been given this year, working on this free inquiry project was always something that I looked forward to. Despite initially feeling that it was just one more thing added to my already heavy load, I am very glad we were given the opportunity to choose to be able to do a project like this.

Side Note: We transplanted the cukes into bigger pots because they were growing so rapidly. Unfortunately, these cucumber plants, that were once growing so well, have started to show sign of serious distress. This past week we have had some beautiful weather and we put the seedlings outside to get used to the elements and brought them back inside after a few hours. I am concerned that the seedlings might be suffering from shock coming from too much exposure to the sun, too soon. We hope that they will survive, but are planting some new seeds this week, just in case they don’t.