Loa found an unripe little melon he smuggled from the greenhouse. Photo: Maria Fors Östberg.

I'm finally launching my newest book Odla med barn (Growing with kids) here in my webshop! This is my fourth book so far, and I'm so happy to have written it. It's now available to my Swedish-speaking readers on the blog a few weeks before it reaches the stores. Signed, of course! I hope I can get all of my books translated in the future so that you can read it too.

I wanted to tell you why this book is so important to me. My goal was to write about how I manage to do my gardening even in the most hectic years when the kids are small. It's not always easy of course, but it's worth it. Sharing the garden with my wonderful kids means everything to me! I have four children between the ages 2-10 and they usually come with me to the garden. This book contains plenty of tips on how you can find and keep your focus both mentally and practically. I write about what helps me stay on top of it all and how I feel about my children's own journey and their lives in the garden. The beautiful pictures were taken by Maria Fors Östberg.

Growing with kids is illustrated with a beautiful green color I just love. Kristin Lindström designed the book!

I see us as a very outdoorsy family, and it's something that feels completely natural to me. I realize that a lot of kids don't actually have this type of lifestyle that we do though. They have a lot of activities going on all the time instead. It almost seems like the entire family gets really stressed out when they have nothing planned for the day. There seems to be a constant need to DO something. My vision was instead to have my kids play and simply enjoy life in the garden. But I was worried it would be difficult to realize that dream and that the kids would fight and bicker instead.

So, when people ask me where I find the time to grow my own food while also taking care of four kids, my answer is simple. It works because the kids love being outside!

Translated from the chapter Being outside together

This is what the cover of my book looks like. The spine is green and I used the same font I chose for the header on my blog.

Being outside

Having kids that love being outside is an absolute must for me. I don't think I would have been able to grow on this scale if they didn't enjoy the garden as much as I do. This didn't just happen though. I have worked hard to get my kids to enjoy spending time outside. Now, the answer to my question "what do you want to do today?" is always "Go outside!"

Growing with kids is my personal guide to growing your own food when you have a large family. It's not another book about fun educational projects you can do with your children, but instead a hands-on exploration of how you can sync your garden and your family life.

I hope that many gardening families will get inspired by this book. Hopefully, my English-speaking readers will get to read it in the future too!
/Sara Bäckmo