Ann and Paul, shared excellent tips for involving kids in backyard farms in Backyard Roots. At first glance their backyard in Alameda California looks typical: a beautiful deck above a lawn bordered by trees and bushes. But it’s a farm incognito: it’s packed with 33 fruit trees, vegetables and chickens. Ann and Paul didn’t grow up in gardening families but she wanted her kids to have the fun of farming and to learn something too.

Ann and Paul have been amazed at the runaway success of some of their plants. Last year they harvested over 100 pints of strawberries. She wanted to grow them because her kids love them and organic strawberries are pricey. She never imagined her family would be picking and eating strawberries every day. “You really can get tired of them,” she says, but luckily the neighbors didn’t.

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