Roses are red and pretty: it’s true.

But if food’s what you want, a garden’s for you. Gardeners know a secret: growing groceries is fun. Whether you simply plant a passel of strawberry plants or a few lines of peas or beans, or dig up all your grass and put in a farm, you and your children will discover together the miracle of the seed and the power of patience.

Even the smallest city lot or apartment has room for a planter of herbs. To grow more, consider square-foot gardening. According to squarefoot.com, this requires very little space and uses 80 percent less water than conventional gardening. You can harvest a crop with a plot as small as four feet by four feet. This all-natural planting method requires no thinning, few seeds, and gives the most food for the time invested. You may want to include marigolds to keep pests away. For this purpose also consider planting onions, garlic, daffodils, tulips, lavender, and mint.

As you open up the seed packages, show your children how tiny the plants’ beginnings are and how few seeds are contained in a package. After you’ve buried the seed, remind your kids that you’ve done your part—the rest is up to God. The same is true when we take our problems to Him. We leave them in His care and then we wait patiently. God often works in secret, but when we trust Him, we can see miracles happen.

The moment someone spots green tips of growth, gather around. Keep watering, weeding, and waiting. Make a special meal of the harvest. Thank God for providing all good things, including the tiny seeds that grow into a feast fit for the King’s kids.