Gardening: Explaining the Odious Task of Thinning

You kids won't learn all gardening tasks first hand at a young age.  I still find myself looking forward to gardening alone while the kids are in school.  But I always make sure that I talk to them about everything I do in the yard -- from pruning, to weeding, to planting, to sprinkler adjustment.  I try to give them as much exposure and especially explanation on as many gardening tasks as possible in the hope that someday, some of it will 'bear fruit' in their own yards and gardens. 

As you can see by the photo - my most recent garden task was my most odious: thinning the peaches from my peach tree.  I hate this - mostly because being such a fruit lover, I hate killing potential fruit.  Still, it is an unavoidable job if we are to get any decent peach harvest whatsoever.  So even though I did this while the kids were at school, I showed them how many peaches I took off the tree and explained why it is necessary to thin fruits and occasional vegetables (carrots, etc.).  My kids know that I hate this job and they usually tease me about it this time of year, but at least they are learning about orchard care and the price one pays for a decent harvest.