One of my most treasured memories of my Mississippi home “The Roebuck Place” is our spring time ritual. We would arrive home from school sling off our shoes and run as fast as we could down the path past the plum thicket and our corn patch lower down to our garden. Daddy would be pushing a plow behind a mule breaking up the rows. He would smile and throw up his hand happy to see us. We would run through the black dirt feeling the coolness on our bare feet and smelling the wonderful richness of turned earth. It was a glorious time anticipating what would follow during the summer. Mama always allowed us to help plant seeds. We all would do the work later come harvest. Mama took great pride in cooking it all and putting up plenty for the winter. She had great faith and knew God would provide.
—Miss Gina 2022
Miss Gina’s memories reminded me of a question I received the other day. The person wanted to know if we had ever calculated the cost of growing green beans and then canning them. They wondered if buying dried beans wouldn’t be a whole lot cheaper not to mention easier.
A friend who is a master knitter told me her grandson said “Granny don’t you know you can buy a sweater at Walmart and you don’t need to make them?” She told him she was aware of that, but the pleasure of raising sheep, harvesting their wool, carding it, spinning it, dying it, and then knitting a sweater couldn’t be bought at Walmart.
We feel the same way about making a garden. Certainly there may come a time when we are no longer physically able to grow food, but until then we will relish every seed we plant, tend to, harvest, and put up to feed our family. To quote my friend no amount of money can buy the pleasure that brings us.
Last night’s video: The Month of May at Celebrating Appalachia.
Tipper
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Amen !!!
Gardening is a hobby (for most). Hobbies are enjoyed despite the expense and often instead of buying what the hobbies produce. Most things produced by hobbies are more expensive to the hobbyist than buying them; but, as has been pointed out, the love and joy spent on hobbies is beyond price.
One of the travesties that resulted from the industrial revolution and employment outside the homeplace is the loss of the family garden. Gardening takes a lot of time. Employment away from home takes a lot time, time that could have been spent raising food for the family table. Sure, many people accomplished bot; but they were exceptions, not the rule. My Pa clocked in every morning at 6:45am and was home working in the garden shortly after 4:00pm until dark. He was lucky to live in town yet find open lots to use for gardening. Most people today can’t do that. They live on less than .3 of an acre in homes that cover most of that footage. That leaves no room to have a garden to produce a variety of food.
I so enjoyed your post this morning Tipper! Reminded me of the years of my childhood when my Papaw would plow his garden with his ol’ work horse. Then my Daddy with the tractor. We knew where we would be Spring, Summer and early Fall. Tending the garden, so Mom could put up the provisions for the Cold Winter months in Ohio. We might not had a lot, but we never went hungry.
Yesterday morning when I was hoeing my garden, I was reflecting on the very same things you wrote about this morning. What a blessing it is to have your own food, know where it comes from & the satisfaction the Lord gives me the strength to tend it.
Thank you Tipper for your post every morning. It keeps me connected to my Appalachia Roots!
I agree with everyone that home grown vegetables taste better, especially tomatoes and cucumbers. We no longer have the space or are able to have a large garden. We garden now in grow bags and that works for us. In the beginning, God placed mankind in a garden and told them to tend it. A garden is where we belong.
A garden is one of the most peaceful places you can go to. Comforting, rewarding, it soothes the soul. A garden is good for whatever ails you. I miss all the years daddy had one but getting to see your garden, Tipper is like being back home again. I also can’t leave out the flower gardens. I am reminded of the beautiful song, “In the Garden.”
Thank you for sharing my sweet memories from our homeplace again. I had forgotten Iabout my comment. I was able to share with family. So love your channel and website!
When I was a kid I hated helping my Mom in her garden. My excuse was I was afraid of snakes and spiders. But us kids had to help. I’d like to think I enjoyed the food but I was a picky eater as a kid! I’ve never been good at growing things, especially indoor plants. Never learned to enjoy gardening. I would give a lot at age 75 to be physically able to do it now. I don’t comment often on your vlog Tipper but I love reading the comments from everyone else! Such good reading not to mention your words or the guests you have. Not from Appalachia but love learning about it. Grammy from Texas
Two great takeaways so far today. #1 Homemade has love in it. #2 My hands may be busy but my heart is free. Amen. As a preacher friend of mine says, “That’ll preach.” Come to think of it, it already has. And barefoot in the cool, soft dirt reminds me of the scriptural “rooted, grounded and settled” which I think is a good description of Tipper with Appalachia. I think I need a coffee mug with that on it.
Ron, thank you for your kindness.
Amen, Tipper. We humans were ‘made’ for this. I can almost smell that freshly readied field and feel the dirt trickling through my fingers or the under my bare feet. There is just something about ‘earthing’ that is a balm to the soul.
Walmart tomatoes don’t taste ANYWHERE near as good as those from your own garden. Being out in the fresh air and sunshine to plant and watch something grow can’t be bought anywhere. As I’ve worked with kids and teens through the years I’ve many times brought groups to see my garden. Sometimes even their parents came and were amazed. The only place they’d ever seen food was at Walmart or some grocery store. They had no idea food didn’t come in boxes. My wife on seeing me dig potatoes said, “So, that’s why their always dirty.” One time I found that a 2 year old neighbor loved carrots. I helped her plant and tend a row at the edge of my garden. She came every day to watch them grow and several times each day to harvest and eat one at a time. ‘
Mother and Daddy always had a garden and I grew up with Mother and Daddy working as a team putting up food. What a blessing they were to us and you just can’t beat home grown food. Tipper what a joy to see Granny feeling good and excited about going shopping with her family. What a treat for her!! Oh how I loved going shopping with Mother and her sisters. Those times I re-visit in my mind’s eye even now after 60 plus years and they still bring smiles to my face. Granny’s sweater is beautiful! My Aunt Velma was the queen of crochet in our family. Oh my goodness the baby sweaters, hats, booties, baby blankets and afghans she made. She taught me and my cousins and anyone that wanted to learn how to crochet. She was a master with the sewing machine too. I will always, always treasure the time I had to spend with her and Mother. I don’t know if I was an old soul when I was young but I do know that I loved spending time with my family no matter what we all were doing we all were enjoying doing the work together.
I completely understand. My husband & I have been putting out a garden every year for almost 40 years. Since I was diagnosed with leukemia last summer, this will be the 1st year we haven’t put one out. I’m not allowed to work in the dirt because of my extremely low blood counts.
🙁 This is probably one of the hardest “pills to swallow” about this cancer (lol, pun intended). By now we’d have our garden all planted & I’d be enjoying all the garden “work.” But since I can’t, I will be checking in on your site often so I can enjoy reading all about your gardens. Thank you so much for all your posts, but especially for all your garden posts.
LJ, I’m sorry you are having to go through that. I will pray for you.
LJ, so sorry you couldn’t make a garden this year. Praying for healing. Grammy from Texas
The quality of homegrown vegetables can’t be beat. Grandma’s hand knit sweater will be full of memories and outlast that Walmart sweater.
Mom headed out to her big garden as soon as the indoor chores were done and would stay there for hours piddling at one thing and another. Her kids fussed at her when she came in red-faced and dehydrated. She would say, ‘Leave me alone, because I’ve done this since I was a little girl, and that’s what makes me happy and keeps me going.’ She was 73 years old and did not take any prescription medication when we lost her and Dad in an auto accident. They were as strong as an ox and could outwork any of their children. My family wonders why I raise a big garden for myself when I can buy what I need from a farmers’ market. I tell them what Mom told us.
Amen. The garden is a spiritual place and a holy place. There is no sin, no killing, no greed, no politics, no plain ol’ ugliness… That’s God’s space and that’s where I go a lot of days to walk with Him and His Son, Jesus. We walk and talk amongst the flowers and vegetables. We listen to praise and worship music there at times or just set on the bench and take in all the beauty of the garden and my little slice of heaven God blessed us with many years ago. Often, I find myself just setting there breathing in deep because God created the earth and breathed life into every living thing and I love thinking that He breathed life in me and I don’t want to miss a single breath. Simply His name, Yahweh – Yhwh … is the sound we make when we breathe. Every moment in the garden is truly inspiring and is truly a blessing from our Father.
I remember my parents planting a huge garden every year and then reaping and putting away the bounty. The only vegetables we bought were celery, lettuce, cucumbers and those were rarely purchased. My mother cooked almost every bite we ate using her canned and frozen food from the garden. The first time I stepped inside a restaurant was with my 4H group when I was 12. It was a fancy one and I was awed by it. The 4H instructor wanted us to see how the table was set and experience the ambience of the place. The first time I was at a McDonald’s was in 1965 with my boyfriend now husband. My family never ate out except at our aunts and uncles’ houses. Now that I’m older, I realize how blessed I was to have my mother’s cooking, and food that was home grown. I guess you could call me a snob because I only prefer food cooked at home now. The sad part of growing your own garden is that my husband and I are no longer physically able to plant a large garden. This year we planted six tomato plants and a few cucumbers. We have two tommy toe tomato plants in a container. Our peach tree is giving us some delicious peaches, but the deer and squirrels are enjoying them too. I have many memories of planting and reaping a garden, the smell of the earth, the sunshine and taking a bite out of a ripe red tomato in the field. I also remember Daddy and his love of gardening. He will have been passed twenty-five years June 26. Oh, how I miss him.
Tricia, I enjoy reading your comments, I think we would have a lot in common with the way we were raised. I was about 10 years old before I ever ate a hamburger, my 4th grade class had went on a school trip and we stopped at a hamburger restaurant in Greenville, SC ( not one of today’s restaurants) and got a hamburger. I wrote before about being 16-17 years old before I ever knew or ate pizza, and being so ignorant I thought pepperoni was pepper. Never ate spaghetti until after I was married. We might eat a homemade hotdog on special occasions.
I was thinking of all those beautiful crochet pieces Granny creates. A store bought sweater wasn’t made with love and care. The same with a garden, it’s not about the price. It’s the pride and joy of knowing you’re providing for your family.
Nothing like the satisfaction of growing your own food and putting it on your table and in your pantry.
Also, staying active keeps one healthier and gardening definitely requires physical activity.
Gina’s story reminded me of the rituals my siblings and I had as kids when school ended and summer began. We too casted off our shoes for the summer.
I’m in agreement about growing your own garden and putting it up, it’s just better than buying them dry beans or store canned or store packaged veggies. Plus we know what we use in our gardens and control what goes in to them when we can them for long term storage. Now days these companies use so many unnecessary chemicals it’s causing more harm to us than good. I started making my own laundry detergent too. My clothes are cleaner and they don’t end up with stains that weren’t on my clothes before I washed them like they seemed to get when I used store bought laundry detergents. Plus my homemade detergent smells cleaner too. My husband ask me all the time if it’s cheaper to make my own compared to store bought detergents. I tell him I don’t know for sure but what I do know is our clothes are cleaner and it last way longer than store bought.
Store bought never tastes as good as home grown. Did Ira get to play in the dirt this spring when you and Matt readied the garden for planting?
Sharon, Ira loves to be outside and he had enjoyed all the gardening 🙂
Why sing when you can buy a record? Right? But, don’t we buy a record and sing anyway?
That is truth spoken, plus you know what was put into your food to grow and protect it. When buying from the stores or someone else, you don’t know. I love knowing where my food has come from.
Tipper, I sure hope the Lord comes before you and Matt are no longer able to plant and put up. I have heard you say that your Pap and Granny grieved when they could no longer get out there and get it done. The way your eyes sparkle at the thought of planting is priceless!
Linda, read my first comment, not being able to get out and do for myself like I once could only adds to the depression I have over my wife of 50 years death. We were married 47 years and dated almost 3 years ( not lived together) when she died. She was my life. I once could do almost anything I wanted to do for myself and not ask for help, kinda like Matt.
Amen to that
That is the truth and I find there is so much peace working the garden. I’ve said many a prayer while getting my hands in the dirt. It is a good time to talk to the Lord. I love that picture
Tipper, I believe you wake before the early worms and chickens each day!
You are full of vim and vigor like no other!
Also, to add to your story, there’s no love in a Walmart sweater. A handmade sweater as a gift means all the world to me, anything hand made, as a gift to me, means the world to me. It’s never the gift, but the love behind it!
Nothing compares to home grown.
We totally agree!!!!
Also, think our world would be a better place if we did more for ourselves, instead of always buying!
Love your content!
I remember the days of my youth when I enjoyed running barefooted in fresh plowed dirt and also the smell of fresh plowed dirt. Like in this story, we all worked together to have a big garden, raise and put up most of our food. Not only does the food taste better, there is a “good feeling “ you get from doing this. Things bought at a grocery store is not the same. Nowadays, many never get to experience this joy and happiness. I am now at the point that I am no longer physically able to work a garden or do a lot of other things I once could. This along with the hot, dry summers and deer problem does make it easier to now just buy it. I still try to have some “homegrown” tomatoes each year, I am lucky in being able to be able to buy other fresh home grown produce from area farmers that have grown the produce.