little miracles

For years, Derrick has talked about planting a summer vegetable garden. We tried tomatoes one year, but our dog Aggie ate the fruits just as they became ripe. She would trot in through the door, with a nose yellowed by pollen and the drippings of fresh tomatoes on her chin.

I think there is nothing better than fresh vegetables, straight from the garden, but I'm not much help when it comes to growing. My thumb is about as brown as they get. Like any good daughter, I blame that on my parents and ancestors. It's cheaper than therapy! My mom's side of the family were all seamen, working the waters off of the coast of Virginia and my dad's side were full of city folks, culminating in my Dad being raised in a suburb of NYC. As for me, the quarter acre that I was raised on could barely support the impatiens that my Mom faithfully planted each year. The trees were so thick that there was no room for the sun.

Derrick, on the other hand, spent his summers on the family farm in Kansas. He tells stories of canning cherries from the orchard, eating vegetables from the garden and bringing in the hay crop each year. His mother always has an abundant crop of tomatoes from the two pots she keeps outside. Because she is in Texas, there are often still tomatoes to harvest when we visit at Thanksgiving.

So, this is the year that we finally have a small garden outside. About two weeks ago, Derrick bought some soil, mixed it with our hard, red clay and planted some beans and squash. Healso planted five tomato plants and sprinkled herb seeds in other pots.

I decided to do a bit of "work" this morning in our garden by watering. I watered the dirt (which was all I saw.) I'm about as eager as the boys to see some results. Then, this afternoon when we went outside to play, I noticed a miracle had occurred during the five hours since I watered. Plants grew! We now have several little bean sprouts and a small squash plant. This little miracle made my day.

I'll try to remember to post updates throughout the summer. I hope we can get at least one good meal out of all this work.