I know you can't believe it right? Who would have guessed that I would be saying at age 24 that I CHOSE to thin my own carrots. That is right mom and dad. I have planted my own little garden (in pots) and it is GROWING. I am taking care of it and it is FUN!! Get out.!.!.!. I just said that it was fun to work in the garden and I didn't even have to be forced or bribed like when I was a kid.
(Here's the ones whose lives were sadly cut short when they were selected to be pulled.)Remember those good old times Lisa, Bill, Kevin, Robert, and Nancy when we would be working side by side in our huge garden on a Saturday morning, well really all day... and we would drive each other NUTS! We would pick at each other and throw dirt and make each other CRY and LAUGH (mostly I did the crying). Throw weeds at each other and we would sing the "Bean in our ears" song. Eating all the PEAS as we picked them instead of putting them in the bag was my favorite part. Or maybe those times when we got so MUDDY and wet- We would sit in the mud on purpose.
I remember one time when I think it was Kevin got in so much trouble because after working he washed the dirt off in our swimming POOL. (Okay I am laughing out loud now, and I have to stop because it is messing with my typing.)
The worst times were when we weren't working or one of us got in trouble and so we would be left to work in the garden all by ourself. That was the WORST! Because even if you had to do something NOT FUN, it wasn't bad if you had other people to join in your misery and distract you from the heat and boredom. I remember that LISA was so good at hoeing, BILL was so good at ROTATILLING and then KEVIN took over that later. Kevin is a HARD WORKER! (I have always admired that about him.) ROBERT and I could always goof off together. (We liked trimming the trees though. Picking up rotten apples with Robert was the worst because he would always throw them at me and pick the worms out and put them on me. EEWWW!)
I always wanted to be able to work a SHOVEL like my brothers... but no matter how hard I jumped I could never get the shovel to go in very deep. They were pros. Part of it had to be the right kind of shoes or shoes at all. Sometimes I was really dumb! Let's not open that book though cause then we will never be able to shut it.
Wow I did not mean for this to go so far down memory lane, BUT it has been a very good and much needed stroll.
(Here's my sweet little onions. I might be hullucinating but I could really smell them this morning.)Wait just one more memory, I promise... I think this is where I got my deep and "unrootable" (savvy word choice eh?) love of ROOT BEER! Sometimes after a really hard day of work, dad would buy us a gallon of A&W root beer straight from the tap (okay tastes buds that is enough salivating...). It would be gone within a half hour but it was so good. And then even more rarely we would get ICE CREAM, but usually we would get to watch a MOVIE or play games or something else fun together.
(Here's the one pot with carrots on the left, onions in the middle and cucumber and squash on top and bottom and lettuce coming on the right. I don't know why there is a hole in the row. Hmm...)I am so glad I learned the lesson and reward of HARD WORK. It is probably one of the character traits I am most grateful for. For that, mom and dad, I will always owe you. You did an awesome job teaching us kids to work. Then again that is why you had EIGHT kids and then adopted TWO MORE HUH? Just kidding.
Both Luke and I think it is very important to teach your children to work. Too many times we have been so frustrated by kids these days that don't know how to work and don't value things appropriately because of that. We are planning to not make that mistake.
So here's to hard work and gardening, being self-reliant, being a kid and the funny things we did, memory lane and the people with whom you have those memories. I love you my bros and sistas- Karl, Lisa, Bill, Kevin, Robert, Nancy, Michael, Angelica, and Tino- FOREVER!
The biggest pot has two tomato plants, two zucchini plants, onions in the middle, and some flowers. The other pot on the right has melons and flowers. Any ideas for my littlest pot guy?
I know I might not be doing everything right but it is fun to try. After Luke and I got thinking about it, we don't know where my squash and zucchini and melon plants are going to grow to or if the carrots will even have enough room to grow but hopefully they can grow out and sit on the sidewalk. If not... they are doomed!This has been really fun to get started and a little bit of work. It even involved Gracie and I driving our $400 dirty truck to the nursery and getting dirt in the bed to bring home and plant. And a couple of trips to walmart on my bike. I can't wait to see what happens. Hopefully not doom!
3 comments:
lol...that was so funny...I hate to say that I do believe your plants are going to choke each other out. They get BIG, you know. LOL! I love that you're getting dirty and going at it! Very inspiring! I remember the days when i was little in the garden and my parents would pretend that my bros and sis were oxen. She would tie us together and tell us to go at it. It was so fun! I have lots of fond memories in the fields too. Good luck with your plants!!!
So....
My garden memories are mostly BAD. I'm glad Megan loves to garden. I get everything ready every year, all according to her instructions. Then I stay as far away from the garden as possible until it's time to eat. She does square foot gardening, so there's very little weeding, and no tilling. So easy. She makes it a really fun experience for the kids. Their bad experiences will come from learning to pick up after themselves. So far, our family yardwork days have been really fun. I let them work with me if they want, but I also just let them be. They kind of come and help in shifts. More kids come if I can make it fun. Most of my yard work consists of trimming old growth trees and raking leaves. We have seven HUGE trees in our yard, so I spent Saturday and Monday of Memorial day weekend with my arms over my head moving a pole saw back and forth to clean up the trees. The results are still all over the yard. Carson loves to use the hand saw to lop the smaller branches off once the big ones come down. We're planning to make some fun back yard play stuff with the bigger branches. Some of the branches I brought down have 8 inch diameters. Both Carson and Lydea love to stomp the branches into the garbage can. They really like it when I closed the lid and pulled them around in it.
PS -- Megan agrees with the Wolfepack. You are definitely going to lose some of your smaller plants. She also thinks that the growing season in Las Vegas is over the winter. I don't know. I'm just the hired help. I hope your garden is everything you want it to be.
Karl
PPS -- Megan wants me to add that she almost removed our neighbor's power with the branch she cut down. Yeah. She cut it off, but it didn't come down. I had to cut it out of the power lines before it actually fell. Good thing the neighbors were camping!
Beautiful! I like your veggie pots - looks great!
Post a Comment