Gardening

Gardening...

I think gardening is in all our blood, starting back with the big garden that Mom & Dad had on the farm. We talked about the strawberry bed, always a large strawberry bed.  There was asparagus, later on.  There were also the wild blueberry plants, not called blueberries, tho.  What?   And also ground cherries, that grew in the little husks.  Both of these fruits need sugar.  These both just came up, we did not plant them.  A huge sweet potato plant one year, long rows of green beans, peas, carrots, potatoes, the list goes on. Oh, and don't forget the mulberry trees in the shelterbelt.  Canned for winter, rhubarb and mulberry sauce, what a treat!

So the five of us, Mom and Dad's children, had gardens or trees or plants in our homes and yards, always.  Now our children are growing gardens the same way, even as they live in the cities....maybe a small garden, flowers or trees or houseplants.  And if we are one of the ones who do not have anything growing this year, we still dream and remember the big garden on the farm, and the satisfaction and pleasure that comes from the soil through the work of one's hands.