Category Archives: Children in the Garden

August 15, 2021 · 4:32 pm

OPTIMISM

You may have noticed

That I haven’t written much

Over the last 18 + months.

I could blame it on the pandemic

But that is really not the case.

On a glorious Sunday

In early February of 2020

I took a nasty fall

From my attic.

Thankfully I bounced off a refrigerator

And a car

Slowing my fall

To the garage floor.

Breaking

Well…a lot.

Don’t worry

With lots of good medical care

And support

I have recovered.

I will admit though, that I have not been

The cheeriest person of late.

Not the full blown depression

I have experienced

And written about

In the past,

But a kind of dullness

That is not me.

This afternoon

As I was planting what will

Hopefully be

A fall crop of peas

There it was

My old friend optimism.

I must be really optimistic

To be planting peas

In Oklahoma

In August.

Then I remembered this picture

That Kristina sent me yesterday.

Last summer

I taught my grandson, Henry

How to save marigold seeds.

He’s a quick study.

What better picture

Of optimism

Than a child

Holding a glass full of seeds.

Gail

“Sometimes when you’re in a dark place you think you’ve been buried,

but you’ve actually been planted.”

Christine Caine

4 Comments

Filed under Children in the Garden, Generations, Grandchildren, Grandchldren Generations, late summer garden, Marigolds, Optimism, Peas, Seeds, Uncategorized

Tagged as Optimism

November 10, 2019 · 3:15 pm

SHOVEL SEASON

It’s been a glorious weekend here.

70 degree days

Lots of sunshine.

We are told tomorrow

Will be another story.

This on again off again weather

Has given me the chance to do

Some important fall chores.

So let’s just call this

The weekend of shoveling.

On Saturday I purchased

15 – 40 pound bags of manure

That’s 600 pounds!

I’ve developed a great system

Have it loaded into the back of my SUV

At the store.

When I get home

I just wheel the wheelbarrow

Up to the back of the car.

Split the bag open

And slip it into the wheelbarrow.

I never have to lift one of those big bags.

Then I just shovel 4 – 5 shovels full

Onto each Rose, Hydrangea and Hosta

In my garden.

It does two things.

Provides winter protection.

Serves as a slow fertilizer

Come Spring.

It also makes you a little tired

And sore.

You also may find

A few more Easter Eggs.

But by Sunday afternoon

I’d recovered enough

To attack the compost pile.

All those leaves, garden clippings and food scraps

Turn into a rich garden amendment

By fall.

So I got out my handy little shovel

And scooped it into my wheelbarrow

Spreading it onto the garden.

I got about 1/4th of it done today.

There is still more shovel time

In my future.

Having the right equipment

Makes chores like this

A lot easier.

Years ago John gave me this little shovel.

For Mother’s Day.

Last summer he snapped the handle

On the original.

He quickly replaced it.

A small shovel is a real help

For a gardener’s back.

I did have a friend to help me

With all the shoveling.

This giant praying mantis reappeared.

I first met it a few weeks ago

When it landed on my dahlias.

Now it seems to be scurrying around

Looking for a place to hide out

For the winter.

This is not the glamorous side of gardening.

It doesn’t make for lots of

Pretty pictures.

But digging in the earth

Playing in the dirt

Is the beginning of any garden

And perhaps a new gardener.

Photo credit Kristina Wynne

Gail

P.S. Thank you to everyone who has kindly mentioned the Oklahoma Gardening video of my garden house. My favorite comment was from my friend Kay…”I’ve never seen it so clean.” How true that is!

2 Comments

Filed under Children in the Garden, Compost, Dahlias, End of Season Rituals, Fall, Garden Tools, Grandchildren, Hosta, Hydrangea, Oklahoma Gardening, Praying Mantis, roses, Shovel, Uncategorized

August 18, 2019 · 7:35 pm

SIMPLE DELIGHTS

Late summer provides a bit of a respite

From the heavy work of a perennial garden.

Sure there is still deadheading

To keep the blooms coming

And weeds to be pulled.

But my garden is in that “in-between” time.

It’s a bit early to start digging things up

And moving them around.

Something I love doing.

So late last week

When my friend Beth

Reminded me that

“the simplicity of a water drop on a petal

Can delight our inner self”

It helped me to slow down

And look for that simplicity.

Tonight when I was making a little arrangement

For the breakfast room

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And a praying mantis popped out.

It was shear delight.

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I quickly relocated it to the garden.

Then as I moved the arrangement to the table

Another appeared.

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What are the chances of having two praying mantis

In the same arrangement?

Pretty slim I’d say.

It reminded me of the moment last spring

When all the babies hatched.

I was lucky enough to happen to walk by

At this moment.

A few weeks later

Nature repeated itself for Harper & Henry

When they found their own delight.

Finding delight in simplicity.

Thanks for the reminder, Beth.

Gail

1 Comment

Filed under Bouquets, Bugs, Children in the Garden, cockscomb, Dead Heading, Flower Arrangements, Garden Photography, Gardening, Gardening;Perennials, Grandchildren, Perennials, Praying Mantis, Uncategorized

May 13, 2018 · 9:27 pm

“RRANGEMENTS”

I bought these little enameled vases

Years ago

At “Crazy Days”

And only remember using them once.

Until Harper and Henry discovered them

One Easter.

They spent most of that Friday

Snapping off tulips

To make “rrangements”.

So, of course, I had to send some home with them.

Later that year when I visited.

I noticed these little vases all over their house

They were constantly changing the flowers

Kids love to pick flowers

And they seldom leave enough stem

To actually put in a vase.

So these tiny renditions

Were just the ticket.

Kids also learn by watching.

And they have a splendid example

Of arranging in their mother.

In all the years of their marriage

There are always flower arrangements around

When we visit.

In the guest room

DSCN1840

On the fireplace mantel

And kitchen window sill

Along with the dining table.

The kids have picked up on this

Often having flowers in their room.

Luckily, Elliott is good at growing flowers

Supplying dahlias and roses and hydrangeas

All season long.

DSCN0912

It’s the simple things

That we often remember about our childhoods.

The smell of my mother’s pies in the oven.

The warmth of the fire that my father

Built each winter day.

Standing over my grandmother’s floor furnace

Making my night gown into a warm balloon.

The roses at her front door.

I’m thankful for the memories

That Kristina and Elliott are creating

For their family.

And happy that flowers are part of those memories.

DSCN0907

Happy Mother’s Day

Gail

7 Comments

Filed under Children in the Garden, Dahlias, Flower Arrangements, Gardening, Grandchildren, Gratitude, Hydrangea, roses, Uncategorized, Vases

April 30, 2017 · 6:18 pm

THE GOOD NEWS EASTER EGG HUNT V.5

Family

IMG_7999 (2)

Kids

Gardens

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Friends

Community

These are the things I love

Once a year

They all roll into one afternoon.

Five years ago

My friend Kay and I hosted the first

Good News Easter Egg Hunt

For members of our church

Our neighbors

And extended families.

It quickly became a tradition.

Once again this year

Family…Kids…Gardens…Friends and Community

Came together on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

The crafts this year

Were musical instruments.

Which brings me to my friend Eddie Lou.

It’s always handy to have a music teacher

At your side.

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And that’s where we’ve been.

Side by side for the last forty plus years.

Church choir.

Raising kids

And now grand motherhood.

So it was natural

That the three of us would plan this year’s event.

Kay a master at the grand motherhood thing

And entertaining children.

Eddie Lou & Kay

Eddie Lou using her well honed teaching skills

To help children create

Rain sticks

And Drums

And Shakers

And Tambourines

More details were worked out by

Kara, Abbey and Tashana.

While Andrew and Katie provided

Bags of candy for all the kids.

Megan filled 700 Easter eggs,

And Monica supplied her famous lemon cookies

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The Ladybug release has become the highlight of the afternoon.

With kids not just expecting

To have bugs crawling up their arms.

They actually look forward to it.

Needless to say

It takes a village

A community

To create memories

To nurture

To simply share

In the joys

Of Life!

Gail

Thank you Beth Young and Jennifer Cole for the use of your marvelous pictures.

white iris

GARDENING FOR GOOD

This summer I’ve been dividing my gardening days

Between two gardens.

It’s the first summer that Faith Farm

Has been an all volunteer effort.

It was a leap of faith.

What a fun

And rewarding leap.

We started the season with a plan

Put together by my fellow gardeners

Jim & Michael.

It’s an ambitious three season plan

Since we have a 9 month growing season.

We started harvesting lettuce

In March.

And we haven’t stopped.

200 lbs of lettuce

120 lbs of gorgeous carrots

img_0006-1

More basil than all of Italy

and almost 900 lbs of cucumbers.

Wow what a year.

We have literally grown well over a ton of vegetables.

All of this done by a dedicated group

Of volunteers.

Including a few Master Gardeners.

Twice a week they harvest this bounty

And take it to Loaves & Fishes

Where it is then given

To our hungry neighbors.

Several times a year

Jim offers gardening classes

To the L & F clients.

And every so often

We have a Saturday work day

To catch up on the big jobs.

Yesterday was one of those work days.

We had an ambitious list

OK…we had an impossible list.

Thanks to a few new volunteers

We got most of the big jobs done.

Morning glories pulled off the fence

Before they set seed.

Bolted basil pulled, dried and ground into mulch.

Ground pecan hulls put on the paths.

And soil added to beds.

Then there was the shed.

Michael spent the morning organizing it.

Thank goodness.

These are not glamorous gardening jobs

But they are essential.

And feel good to have done.

Along the way we made a few new friends

Loaves & Fishes board member Randi

Brought her family.

Including her son

Who got to meet Charlotte

Our resident Orb Spinner Spider

She’s been “hanging” around

Since July.

He also found caterpillars and praying mantis.

It’s always a good day when you can introduce

A child to the wonders of nature.

And do a little

Gardening for Good.

Gail

4 Comments

Filed under Basil, Bugs, Carrots, Children in the Garden, Community Garden, Compost, Cucumbers, Fall Vegetables, Garden Planning, Gardening Friends, Herbs, late summer garden, Lettuce, Morning Glories, Nature, Orb Spider, Uncategorized, Vegetables

May 29, 2016 · 2:30 am

FREE RANGE OR HOVER MOTHER

Recently I had the great joy

Of helping to care for my grandchildren.

In my case that’s twin 22 month-olds

Harper and Henry.

Or as I sometimes call them H2W.

They are as you would expect

Perpetual motion

Times 2.

So their parents wisely

Planned a few activities in advance.

On Tuesday morning

We headed to the Denver Botanical Garden

For a class on Sunflowers

Designed for 18 – 24 month-olds.

The room was all set up for the class.

An oval rug for sunflower story-time.

Toddler sized table and chairs for the 2 dozen or so participants

Which included 3 sets of twins.

And a row of adult sized chairs along the perimeter.

Henry and Harper found a chair and settled in

For whatever was to come

Kristina and I found a chair in the adult section.

When the sunflower art session started

We realized we were the only adults

Not hovering above their child.

Now, I’ve heard the phrase “hover-mother”

But I’d never seen it in action.

Folks, it’s real.

Where Henry and Harper created abstract masterpieces.

Other’s somehow formed perfect rows

Of perfect sunflowers.

It made me think of my garden

Am I a “hover-mother” gardener?

I love to putter around my flowers.

Deadheading – staking things,

Moving plants to what I think is a better location.

When I got home I realized that I’m likely

More free-range.

What with that crazy hollyhock having returned

To the front of the garden.

Not to mention Larkspur run a muck.

Later in my visit

The weather warmed up enough

For us to play outside.

Elliott provided plenty of water.

For Harper and Henry to play in.

They were generous.

A little on the plants

A little on their grandfather’s shoes.

And eventually a little on each other.

Parenting styles seem to be like gardening styles.

Some of us need to be all hands on all the time

While others step back and let nature be

What nature can be.

I’m thankful we seem to be

A free-range family.

Gail

4 Comments

Filed under Children in the Garden, Gardening, Grandchildren, Gratitude, hollyhocks, Larkspur, Sunflowers, Uncategorized

May 2, 2016 · 3:11 am

TRADITIONS

Keeping traditions alive

Can be a tricky business.

I’m a believer in tradition

It gives a continuity to life

Between generations.

But you have to pick and choose

What to hold on to

Or there’s no room for the new.

The May Day’s of my youth have

Disappeared for a decade or several.

The last few years have given me hope

That this gracious tradition is not dead.

May Day had many incarnations

My favorite is the May Day of my youth.

Makeshift construction paper baskets

With pipe cleaner hangers

Filled with flowers

And hung anonymously

On doors of family, neighbors and friends.

A simple kindness.

It just seemed natural

That there should be a way

To re-introduce May Day to the next generation

What better chance than the church youth group.

So this evening they came to make bouquets

For members of the church.

You never really know

When you do something like this

If kids are going to like it

Or if you really are a much older lady

Than you let yourself believe you are.

They jumped right in

Making 10 wonderful arrangements

To spread kindness

Throughout the town.

When I came back into the house.

As fate would have it

Some anonymous children

Had left a May basket on our door.

And decorated the pot at our front door.

With none other

Than an original ladybug.

Judging by the glitter

I’m pretty sure

Cassidy, Sloan and Beth

Made a surprise visit.

Kindness training

Something we all need

I’m guessing even more so

In 2016

Happy May Day

Gail

2 Comments

Filed under Bouquets, Children in the Garden, Flower Arrangements, Lady Bugs, May Day, Nature, Uncategorized

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