Granny, Paul, Pap, and The Deer Hunter
This week the weather is supposed to be more like spring of the year than last week’s bitter cold wind that came rushing over the ridges down through the holler finding any crack it could blow through. I’m anxious to be outside in the gardens and there’s plenty to do.
The beds surrounding our house all need to be turned over. Some of them still need to be cleaned off from last year’s growth and most need compost added to them.
Potatoes need to be planted as do the cabbage starts.
I love the hope of the March garden. The soil is bare canvas waiting for seeds to be sown that will grow into a lush landscape full of sustenance for our bodies.
My great love of growing things comes from Pap and Granny and this time of the year always makes me feel close to them.
I find myself thinking of working in the garden alongside them, being sent for onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, a mess of corn or other need for supper. I also study on the lovely fellowship we had visiting one with another when we stopped to rest.
At Pap’s big garden we often perched on the rocks that have been piled into the semblance of a wall over the years. Other times we sprawled tucked up close to the ridge our house sits on. There was always a slice of shade to be found there even on the hottest days.
In later years if we were working at Pap and Granny’s little garden there were chairs handy for resting a spell and the grass made a soft seat if more room was needed.
There’s something about fellowship that happens right alongside work. It brings a joyful satisfaction. If I could bottle the feeling and sell it I’d be a rich woman. But then again I’m already rich for having experienced it with those I love most.
Tipper
p.s. My email service failed to send yesterday’s post. If you’d like to read it go here.
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So true, and such a blessing. I still remember every section of our family yard and what we grew there. My mom knew every flower and bush by name, and it never seemed like work when we were out there taking care of them. It’s such a blessing to have a garden, and always lifts my heart to spend time in it.. Grandson and I have great plans for the pumpkin patch, tallest sunflowers, and all this summer. We’ve gardened together since he was tiny and love every bloom and bug. Thanks for sharing your precious memories.
Sadie mentioned another favorite hymn of mine. This a good example of the reason I say today’s religious music can’t hold a candle to old hymns that have stood the test of time. Reckon anyone will be singing today’s religious “ seven eleven” songs a 100 years from now if the good Lord has not came back?
I remember when I was a kid growing up and having to help out in our garden from the time I was 3 or 4 years old on up into my teenage years, it wasn’t as enjoyable as some of you remember it being. We had a large 1-2 acre garden each year. A large garden was a necessity for us, not a hobby or the “in thing to do” like so many of the small gardens are today. In some of the my younger days I would need some motivation to work in our garden. My parents, usually my mother, would provide the needed motivation with a keen hickory switch!
“But then again I’m already rich for having experienced it with those I love most.”
Tipper, you are correct: You are indeed a very wealthy woman.
I have wonderful memories of working in the garden with Mama and Daddy. The conversations and all the laughter we shared made the work enjoyable. When I was still living at home many times after supper, while helping with the dishes, I would look through the window and see Daddy standing at the garden. I always wondered what he was thinking about. More than likely, he was thinking how blessed he was to be able to provide for his family.
So many memories come with this post Tipper but no words are more fitting then what Sadie Ledbetter wrote in the words of that beautiful old hymn!! Blessings!
Gardening connects us to the past in so many ways; I have bean seeds that were planted on my great-grandparents’ farm and canning jars that my grandmother used. My mom is still around, but she is no longer able to garden and I miss those days of planting and working in the garden with her. When my parents bought their property, Dad converted an old washroom shed on their property into a canning kitchen, complete with sink, refrigerator, stove, counter, and a small table and chairs, and I have spent many summer evenings helping Mom out there until way up late at night. I miss those nights as well, from working up the vegetables to coming outside late at night to see the stars and hear the late summer katydids. But now my grandson loves to help in the garden, so I’m trying my best to pass on to him the love of growing things.
One of my favorite pastimes is to sit by the garden and just enjoy the view. I love watching hubby till it up and working in it with him. It would be great to have a little rustic bench right there beside the fence…maybe I can sweet talk him into making me one this year. But for now…the tree stump and soft grass make fine seating while we watch the garden grow. Our grandchildren love to help Pap plant the onions each spring and the garlic each fall. They get all excited wading through the soft soil to help pick tomatoes and peppers when harvest time comes ‘round. What a satisfying feeling to grow your own food and flowers. I am excited, but I have to be patient a little longer. It’s much too early for most plants here in north central wv. I hope everyone has a beautiful day and week ahead. It’s only 46 outside right now…but the sun is shining and it’s going to warm up to 64 later on.
“I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses and the voice I hear falling on my ear the son of God discloses. And he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own. The joy we share as we tarry there none other ever has known.” That’s the power of a garden and fellowship my friends!!!! Much love on a sunny morning with robins and Canada geese flying about looking for a place they may light and raise their babies!!!! What a joy to know The Lord it truly is! Hallelujah as the hope of spring comes forth! As far as the blog not getting out yesterday-it ain’t nuthin’ but a thang! Happens every day with the “mighty” plunking machine- better, faster and more reliable than ink-and I got ocean front land for sale herein WV….
I always receive immense joy from nature and from being outside!!!!! Many of my own memories come from summers of picking vegetables and preserving them for future enjoyment.
There is something special about sitting and visiting after working together with others.
Tipper mentioned cold weather, It rained most of the day yesterday and only got to about 45 degrees for the high. It was still sprinkling at 9 o’clock last night. This morning the cars and my deck are covered in a combination of frost and ice. I live near the Princeton area of southern Greenville County, SC. It Is going to have to warm up quick to get to today’s predicated high of 70 degrees.
This post conjures up so many childhood memories for me. I can remember my Grandpa and my Dad taking a break and just resting on the hoe while standing there talking. It’s funny how those visual memories are just there waiting for us.
This must be the first time I’m reading the Blind Pig first thing. It’s always nice to work with others in the garden. The work goes so much faster. we are too far north to start our garden yet and I’m so anxious.
I went looking in my spam envelope yesterday to see if my E-mail deposited you there. That happened once before. I’ll have to go see yesterday’s mail in the link.
Happy Belated Birthday to Granny. She is so precious.
When I was a little girl, my dad and my uncle always had a competition about who had the best garden. Uncle Mike usually won. We’re having spring temperatures this week. It sure does something to lift your spirits. I only have plants in small containers. I won’t be able to plant for a couple months.
I remember in the past when the neighborhood small time family farmers would have a friendly competition to see who could grow the largest watermelon. There was no money prize, just bragging rites for that year. Now the competition could be who did the best job of keeping the deer from eating up their garden.
My Grandmother grew a variety of roses in her city flower bed. Red ones, pink and yellow. Their fragrance was heavenly. She had stately iris in another bed. Deep purples, white and yellow. Some people in days gone by called them “flags”. I have not been successful in replicating the remembered beauty of her flower beds, but wait in expectation of the blooming of spring.
Hard work is so much more enjoyable when doing it along side others. I have good memories of helping my parents plant a garden when I was a kid. I would insist on taking a pass with the tiller until I realized how hard that was and then I was ready to pass it back to my dad. Thanks for stirring up the memories as I sit at home trying to recover from the virus that shall not be named.
Tipper, this made me remember as a child around Thanksgiving my Granny would have rakes set out and usually about 4 or 5 of us would be together raking leaves. It’s the fellowship I remember. We’d laugh and carry on with each other. Thank you for reminding me.
Some of my most treasured moments in the garden were with my momma and daddy. If we couldn’t plant together and Daddy got theirs done first he would call and say, “it’s too late to plant garden.” His way of saying I beat you to it.
This time of year brings the hope of spring and summer, but I have great sadness too because I miss my best friends. Momma was my best girlfriend ever. We did everything together!
I now look forward to when our kids and grandkids come as we always sit in chairs and look at the garden. God’s goodness abounds all around us. Praise His Name!
Blessings to all!
It’s funny, I have been laying awake for more than an hour waiting on 4 o’clock and today’s BP&A. I have been laying here in the dark and quietness thinking of the past and how it use to be to when so many of both mine and my wife’s family were still living and the joy and happiness we once had just being and doing so many countless things together. Nowadays much of my life is spent remembering the happy, joyful times of the past with my wife, family, friends and even my coworkers. I learned yesterday, a high school classmate and friend was found dead in his home after it caught fire and burned down over the weekend. He had went blind several years ago from an eye disease. Again, just more happy memories of high school with Danny and times of the past.
Good thing I was awake, my oldest grandson just texted me to tell me he loved me, he works the night shift. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t either text or call my two grown grandsons. My son lives with me. Nowadays my two grown up grandsons and my son are the reason I keep trying to go on living and don’t just give up and throw in the towel.