Ode to Dirt

One summer, possibly 35 years ago, my grandmother, Hattie, asked me to help her with home keeping for the weekly income of $5.  With the possibility of earning $35... I clearly accepted.  

She first gave me the task of watering all the trees around her home making sure to fill each "well" that she had personally dug to the top.  Kinda boring but ok.  I can close my eyes and smell the dirt and hear the morning doves cooing and I can hear my grandmother's voice adding more instructions.  

She had a sun room full of plants in different stages of growth and life.  She could take a twig and with her healing hands return it to the strong leafy branch it once was.  Plants were everywhere.  (As was a lot of other stuff but that's a different blog...)

I am not sure when I started my love of gardening but the seeds were surely planted that summer.  Thinking back now  the mud pies and dirt tunnels that I created were not only  the products of a childhood played outdoors.

Fast forward to today and I find myself fascinated with the idea that things actually grow when you plant them.  A seed carries all that it needs to begin a new chapter as long as someone helps by adding a safe dirt home and water.  Doesn't that just blow you away?  Maybe a seed is the first teacher of hope; it is planted with the hope that it will indeed sprout and give it's bounty.  We expect it to happen.

I think back to the wonderful "Frog and Toad" series and the story of "The Garden" where Toad is so distraught at why his seeds haven't started growing.  He thinks they may be afraid of the dark so he brings candles to his garden and reads them a story.  He sings, reads poetry, and plays music for his seeds and yells to them to start growing.  Only when he falls asleep and Frog awakens him does he see the little plants coming up from the dirt.  "Gardening is very hard work!" is Toad's conclusion .

Gardening is hard work.  I recently planted lavender and gladiolus and I am not sure that is what is sprouting.  I am actually thrilled that some little seed has found its way to my yard... 

Yesterday, I helped 40 kids plant some seeds in a "reused" container in hopes to spread some love of dirt and hope.  I couldn't believe how so many of them didn't want to get dirty and their reaction to touching the soil was clearly so new.  Wow!! I am not sure they know where all our vegetables and fruit come from!!  My work has just started if I am to help these kids learn about seeds.  

I often think of my granny, Hattie.  She was garden cool way before it was cool.  I am so thankful for that summer.  Every time I hear a morning dove cooing I can feel the pull of the hose and Granny saying "Pay Attention." I am, Granny, I am paying attention.  I will continue playing in the dirt and choosing beautiful seeds to grow with hope.

I could use $35 ...