Coming from avid gardeners on both sides of the family, I naturally pour over seed catalogs like a child in a candy shop, order with abandon, and rejoice over seed packets like some women moon over perfume. I sink to my knees along tilled rows and dig my hands into the earth’s warm soul. Drop seeds and pop plants into holes made with my trowel. As sprouts burst through the soil, I nod my head in approval with a smile from ear to ear. I weed and water and weed and water and weed and water and then come home with the telltale large brown stains on my jeans just like my father. Not because I followed behind my father’s big steps dropping seeds in the furrows he dug, nor knelt beside him picking weeds, or stood in his midst with a basket on my arm, picking the well-deserved harvest of our labor. The hallowed ground upon which my father worked was sacred earth known only to him. Not even my mother entered. I admired it from the perimeter and enjoyed its productivity at the table.
Considering that I labored tirelessly over my father’s flower beds, hedges, and lawn, I am not quite certain why I was never allowed to help in his vegetable garden. And when my father was too old to do the work himself, which he had taken on after I left home, my children and I took over weeding the same flower beds, trimming the same hedges, and manicuring the same lawn-but not his vegetable garden.
Pondering the situation, I still don’t know the answer. All I know is that my desire and knowledge of vegetable gardening, and the success that followed, was not based on discipleship but on my observations of my father working amongst straight well-manicured rows of gorgeous vegetables.
When I came to live in my husband’s home, I naturally set about creating raised beds in our small yard. Because of the lack of space, I positioned beds in both the front and back. Jon picked up untreated rough-cut oak boards from a sawmill to form rectangular beds. We had topsoil delivered, brought manure home from our horses that stayed at my parent’s property where we now live in the country, and then I set to work on incorporating the natural fertilizer into the soil. Shortly thereafter, I planted spring vegetables, then summer ones, and finally a third planting in August. Each harvest was bountiful.
I loved planting and tending the garden with my children. I loved seeing the plants grow. I loved stepping outside my door to pick herbs and vegetables for our meals.
No longer confined by neighbors, when I realized the potential of such a large vegetable garden on our newly acquired farm, I was thrilled and set about creating a very large garden. But then there were the family of ground hogs that lived under the smoke house, weeds that grew like they had been fertilized with steroids, walnut trees that lined the garden on two sides, deer that lived in the surrounding woods, and spells of drought.
Not to be deterred, I shifted the garden away from the walnut trees, sprayed the seedlings with an organic fence to deter the ground hogs and deer and tried again. Of course, there was one walnut tree we left standing for the shade it provided the fowl. Too close to that tree, we shifted uphill the following year.
I thought long rows of grapes and berries would do nicely in that very sunny spot on the hill so I had the boys set about creating long rows of raised beds. Sonia and I finished the work by incorporating manure into the soil the boys transported to each row and raking it into raised beds. Then this children and I planted hundreds of berries-blackberries and raspberries, and grapes.
Early this spring over lunch, Jedidiah reluctantly mentioned that he hoped the cattle and pigs had not caused too much damage to the garden.
Cattle and pigs in the garden, again, I thought. Oh man, I wondered how many plants I lost this time.
I smiled and told Jedidiah it would be fine. But when I surveyed the damage, I could not believe my eyes. Where plants, mostly berries, once stood, were just imprints of hooves. I found the shriveled plants scattered about in all directions. Apparently, the cattle had found them to be inedible and slung them in all directions. But that was not the worst of it. What caused the most dismay was the plowed rows-row after row-from very large snouts-the kind that come at the end of very large hogs the size of Georgia.
Now pigs were made for rooting. It is why we had not placed rings in their noses. Farmers warned us that if we didn’t ring their noses they would tear up our farm. They had not mentioned gardens, so it never occurred to me that my garden could be destroyed by plowing snouts or maybe I would have considered rings.
I just stood still in disbelief as I surveyed the damage. Where raised beds had been were just flattened ground.
Ready to throw in the trowel, I admitted that I was beat! Groundhogs, deer, walnut trees, weeds that mastered every survival skill known to man, large hooves, and now marauding snouts had knocked the wind out of me. I was done! Well at least for several minutes.
What is it about gardens that lull my rationality into optimistic lunacy? Anyone with any sense at all would realize what the majority of farmers found out long ago-it is easier, less stressful, far more practical, and even more economical to purchase vegetables at the grocery store. And the most appealing at my age was that you no longer had to bend over to get them.
Whereas insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results, optimism is believing the future will be better than the past regardless of past experience. Hmm? Depending on one’s view, my perpetual optimism against all odds could be considered a gardening psychosis. Is that my problem? Was there something I could do for it?
Regardless of the reality of the situation, I turned to find the boys who happened to be in the shed working on equipment. When I rounded the corner, they looked up from their work. All I said was not another hoof or snout. Not another hoof or snout in my garden! And I turned away.
The boys knew I meant that I needed the other side of the garden fenced. They felt badly but quite frankly, my sons believe I suffer from gardening psychosis and should get over it. After all, who in their right mind would continue to garden under such opposing odds. For the last two years they have said as much and emphatically encouraged me to stop working so hard on something that brings so little in return. I was busy enough without the grueling work of gardening added to my schedule. Besides, they also saw how I looked after working in the garden hours on end. And their concerned inquiries to my condition, witnessing my stiff and bent body after each bout of combat on my hands and knees, further confirmed their resolve that gardening should be banned.
I have never braked for a garage sale in my life, but I certainly do for straight manicured rows of large towering corn, trellises of tomatoes, teepees of beans, and well-proportioned mounds of squash. If traffic curtails my moments of raptured gazing, I circle back to get a better view.
If only I could keep out the ground hogs, deer, cows, and pigs, I might someday be able to stand back in admiration of my own well-manicured garden.
The wisest man in the world said, Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun (in the garden of course)and the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.Ecclesiastes 5:18
This is my lot. Toiling in the garden under the sun so my children and their children can eat and drink and find enjoyment in all my toil. If only the berries survive so that my grandbabies can enjoy the fruit of my labor, it will all be worth the effort.
My Favorite Gardening Books & Seed Company
How to Grow Vegetable and Fruits by the Organic MethodJ. I. Rodale
Four Season Harvest Eliot Coleman
The Winter Harvest Handbook Eliot Coleman
The New Organic Grower Eliot Coleman
Gardeningby Martha Stewart
Vegetable Gardening the Colonial Williamsburg Way Wesley Greene
Stocking Up
Market Farming Success: The Business of Growing and Selling Local Food Lynn Byczynski
The Market Gardener: A Successful Grower’s Handbook for Small-Scale Organic Farming Severine Von Tscharner Fleming, Jean-Martin Fortier
Seed Savers is my favorite seed company because I appreciate their mission and love the plants that come from their seeds! I even order their seedlings. Growing, saving, and sharing heirloom seeds since 1975, Seed Savers has led the way to preserve heirloom varieties. With a seed bank of 20,000 rare, open-pollinated varieties our children’s children will still have access to seeds our ancestors sowed. www.seedsavers.org
Gardening Party
Gardening is such a wonderful activity to do with children and grandchildren! Several times during their childhood, I surprised my children with gardening parties. I covered the table with a sunshine yellow table cloth topped with gardening books, gloves, tools, seeds, seedlings, and gardening games. After we ate a meal of mostly vegetables, I read the riddles to my children, we played our gardening games, read our books, and then went out to the garden to sow and plant seedlings.
Gardening Riddles
What vegetable would you find in your basement? Cellar-y
Where did the vegetables go to have a few drinks? The Salad Bar
What runs but never gets tired? Water
What is the gardener’s favorite novel? War and Peas
What did Santa say when he walked through the garden? Hoe! Hoe! Hoe!
What did the grape say when it was stepped upon? Nothing. It just gave a little whine.
What is small, red and whispers? A hoarse radish.
How do new gardeners learn? By trowel and error.
How well is your garden growing? Only thyme will tell.
Gardening Games & Books
Peter Rabbit’s Blackberry Game is the cutest game ever! My children and I loved to roll the large wooden dice in a real terracotta flowerpot, move beautiful large hand painted rabbit playing pieces and collect the resin blackberries in their own handmade wicker baskets. I don’t believe these are still being made but you can find them on eBay. I would highly recommend snatching these up before they are no longer in circulation. www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?LH_CAds=&_ex_kw=&_fpos=&_fspt=1&_mPrRngCbx=1&_nkw=beatrix+potter+game&_sacat=&_sadis=&_sop=12&_udhi=&_udlo=&_fosrp=1
The Garden Game: A Celebration of Cultivation for All Seasons helps children take part in feeding the soil, sowing seeds, and nurturing plants. They work together during natural disasters and hosting harvesting festivals. The one with largest garden and the most saved seeds wins. www.ampersandpress.com/page4.html
Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Gardening Together with Children
written and illustrated by nationally known garden writer, Sharon Lovejoy, is a delightful book that gives step by step instructions on how to plan and plant 12 themed gardens with children. For instance, the Pizza patch is planted in a giant-sized wheel with slices of tomatoes, zucchini, oregano, and basil. This is a darling book that will get both adults and children excited about gardening!
Let It Rot! The Gardener’s Guide to Composting by Stu Campbell
To understand the importance of enriching the soil. I inscribed this bookit is such a pleasure to watch the miraculous work of God turn leaves, grass clippings, and other organic garbage into rich soil. Just as God takes our depraved souls and makes them rich and useful in His kingdom, so, too, He turns discarded garbage into something rich and useful. May you appreciate the awesome work of His Hands and enjoy using His miracles to enrich our lives. Happy Composting! Love Daddy and Mama.
Let it Rot begins with the science of composting and decomposition. It then provides practical information on composting, building a compost pile, and speeding up the decomposition process, ending with a description of the end product and how to use it. This book is a gardener’s treasure and one that will enrich the entire family. www.workshopplus.com/products/let-it-rot?_pos=20&_sid=9733405da&_ss=r
Oddhopper Opera: A Bug’s Garden of Verses by Kurt Cyrus
Well, I must say that that title of this book certainly piqued my interest. A bug’s garden of verses, eh? Ha! Were the children and I in for some fun! The story begins at the end of winter in a garden. Once upon a garden rotten, twice forlorn and half forgotten…Drip-drip-cold and wet. Winter isn’t over yet. Drip-drip-soaking, sopping, always dripping, never stopping. Drip-drip-sound of thunder wakes a weevil way down under. Drip-drip-burrow deep. Wait for spring. Go back to sleep.The next thing you know Popping hot peppers-it’s sixty degrees! Calling all oddhoppers! Aphids and bees, crickets and dung beetles, earwigs and fleas! Great galloping grubs, get a whiff of that breeze!
The book then covers the doings of bugs and even a frog in the garden during spring and summer, ending with Drip-drip-wet and muddy. Party’s over, everybody. Split-splat-plipping, plopping, ripe tomatoes dripping, dropping. Plink-plunk peppers fall. Autumn rain will rot ‘em all. Ick-ugh-creeping mold. Days are dark and nights are cold. Wink-blink-close your eyes. Dream of sunny summer skies.
Isn’t that clever? Well, there is more where that comes from with clever illustrations to accompany the clever verses. This is a great book to read now while insects abound. Afterwards, have your children investigate to see if they can find any of the illustrated bugs in your garden.
In the Garden: Who’s Been Here? by Lindsay Barrett George
How is your garden growing? Isn’t it amazing how quickly plants grow once sprouted? I love to observe the changes that often happen overnight, sometimes even from morning to midafternoon like okra that can grow several inches by dinner time. All the many transformations that take place make great lessons for the children. But for the discerning eye, there is much more to detect than just vegetables increased growth.
In the Garden: Who’s Been Here? is a story about two children who go out to the garden to pick vegetables for their mother but find more than just vegetables. They find traces of creatures that visited the garden before them. At the end of each page, the author asks, who’s been here?When the child turns to the next page, it opens up to a two-page illustration of the animal who was there-chipmunk, tomato hornworm, cottontail rabbit, slug, crow, deer mouse, woodchuck, moles and…well, you’ll just have to read the book to see who was there last. This book is an easy read book with nice, large illustrations.