“The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” -Genesis 1:12
It’s a verse most of us read through without thinking, but in Genesis 1:12 is God’s entire plan for feeding the human race. Every plant has a seed that will reproduce that fruit or vegetable.
I don’t think too many of us think about this in our modern world, with seed catalogs and starter plants and fresh veggies at the grocery store. But it’s just one more small indication that God created the universe with a Master plan. What a science lesson!
Last year, we saved okra, green beans, and basil seeds. I literally stuffed the vegetables in a cabinet and forgot about them. They dried out while we went about our lives. This past Spring we removed the seeds. As we worked, we talked about Genesis 1:12. We talked about how many seeds were in each vegetable, and how just one seed produces an entire plant with more!
That verse was illustrated so beautifully when we planted the seeds we’d saved. The photo below shows a green bean plant sprouting. The bean splits open to reveal tiny leaves, and the beginning of a whole new plant begins. This one plant, from this one seed, will produce up to a pound of green beans. And each bean will produce 8-10 seeds!
With seeds costing around $2.50 per ounce (and up from there), it’s amazingly economical to save your own seeds.
And though planting seeds is a well-known activity to do with children, it’s even more exciting (and educational) to show them the full circle designed by God.
Want to save your own seeds? You want it to be cute, right? Here are a few different printable seed packets from the web:
- Mrs. Meyers has cute ones here
- The Balance has plain white and very cute calico prints
- D&G Gardens and Crafts has some very detailed seed packets
Be sure to make a note of the variety of your plant, when to plant, and if it’s climbing or bush-type. It’s a good idea to save the original seed packets for this info.
This summer we are saving even more seeds, like lettuce, watermelon, sunflower, and tomatillo.
You can see from this lettuce plant gone to seed that it’s not pretty. I think this is why we miss out on this miracle in our world of perfectly manicured lawns and gardens. While this is certainly not Pinterest-beautiful, it does illustrate the beauty of creation. Each little flower on this plant will produce 10 or more little lettuce seeds. And look how many flowers are on this one lettuce plant! Just do the math!
I’m not an expert gardener by any means (I can’t grow corn to save my life!), but I learn a little more each year, and naturally, I teach it to my children. It’s a very natural form of education if you grow anything at all. Just let the kids participate with you, talk about what you’re doing and why you do it, and let them eat the rewards!
Check out how we make our own (effortless) compost HERE.
Follow my Gardening Board on Pinterest HERE.
And read about our favorite science curriculum HERE.
Hi! I’m Nicki! Welcome to my blog! A little about me? I’m a 9th generation Texan living on a nine-acre homestead in North Texas with my husband and five children. I write about homeschooling, history, freedom, my faith, homesteading, reading, and quilting. If you want faith-based encouragement, be sure to follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and subscribe to my blog!
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I really liked this article! My kids and I did some of a unit study about Gardens by Amanda Bennett and learned about different types of gardens, and what type of gardens we like and it was a lot of fun! Actually, this year we didn’t have a garden but after eating a spaghetti squash from the store, we planted the seeds and I see plants growing out there! Hopefully soon we will get some squash but I love the idea of keeping the seeds. Thanks for the links for cute packets, though the first one didn’t have anywhere to click it seemed. I will try it again, though. 🙂
Amanda Bennett has some great unit studies! I’m glad you enjoyed the post. I’ll fix that link. Thanks!
Your daughter is so cute! I am entranced by the lettuce plant. I know it’s not the example we want, but still I do not think I have ever seen one growing! How crazy is that! I love okra and it seems like when it grows in our garden it really, really grows!
Thanks for sharing at the #happynowlinkup 🙂