FAITH AT HOME!

fr flag
fr flag

Gardening God's Providence

A record-hot, drought-stricken summer taught our family that God still sends the rain in season. From a kale-and-tomato harvest to freezer-stored surplus, here's what gardening with the kids showed us about provision, patience, and the wisdom of the ant.

Mary Nyonda

8/30/20263 min temps de lecture

We love to garden.

This summer was one of the hottest on record, 2026 has already been called Western Europe's hottest summer since measurements began, with June and July running nearly three degrees above the long-term average. The heat pushed past even 2025's records, which had themselves broken marks going back decades. The forest fires were extensive, the ground was dry, and watering restrictions meant we couldn't simply turn a hose on our garden whenever we wanted.

And in the middle of that, we learned God's provision — again, and freshly.

He made it rain at the right intervals after each heat wave. Some of our more fragile crops dried up and had to be let go. But the heat-loving ones — the cherry tomatoes and kale, the ones built for exactly this kind of summer — grew and yielded anyway. Watching that happen in real time was a great learning point for the children.

"For when you have sown the ground, He will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground." — Isaiah 30:23 (paraphrased)

"And I will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain." — Deuteronomy 11:14

"He gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields." — Job 5:10

From the harvest to the table

From this harvest, we made a simple cherry tomato and kale sauté for dinner — rewarding for the children to eat of the fruit of their own labor, planted back in spring.

Nutrition tip: pairing kale and tomatoes in the same dish isn't just tasty — it's smart. The vitamin C in the tomatoes helps your body convert the non-heme iron in kale into a form that's much easier to absorb.

Whatever kale we can't use right away, we batch-sauté and freeze in family meal-size portions — a small way of stewarding a good harvest so it feeds us well past the season it grew in, right up until the next one comes around. It's our own small version of the ant's wisdom: gathering while it's summer, so there's something set aside for the leaner days.

"Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest." — Proverbs 6:6–8

We also made a lemonade with mint leaves straight from the garden — an easy enough recipe for the girls to make on their own, or with just a little help. Find the free activity and lesson below.

Enough to share

Not everything in the garden makes it to our table. The snails get their share too, often the salads and the ripest tomatoes, usually right before we'd planned to pick them. The birds and the occasional rodent take their portion as well. It isn't always easy to watch, especially for the children, there have been real tears over a salad row stripped bare overnight, or a tomato spotted red and ready, then found half-eaten by morning.

But we've tried to let even that be part of the lesson: the garden was never only for us. What we can't control, we hold with open hands. And what we can control — a full basket, more than we can eat before it spoils — we get to give away. The children especially love harvesting for that purpose. Handing a neighbor or a friend a bag of tomatoes or a bundle of kale feels different than handing them one from the store. It's the fruit of work they did with their own hands, and there's a particular kind of joy in giving away something you grew yourself.

"The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself." — Proverbs 11:25

A few resources our girls find easy to use for home cooking — and which double as lovely gifts:

English

French

Aprons and chef hats round it out — the girls were gifted a set and love having the whole chef look while they cook.

Get the Free Lesson & Activities

Enter your details for instant access to this lesson — plus our growing library of faith-at-home curriculum and activities.