Take the time to show child garden’s wonder

Spring has sprung. Maybe we’ll finally be finished with winter. At least Nature is going ahead with her plans.
Birds are singing and nesting all over the place. And everything that can, has budded. There’s a fine dusting of green pollen on everything and you can hear sneezes going down the road. On warm days, you can hear the whirr of lawn mowers and smell fresh cut grass.
And of course, we’ll all stocked up on allergy meds. But, that’s how it goes in the march of time. They say “time and tide wait for no man”. So true.
Some are planting gardens but by and large, we all depend on grocery stores and farmers’ markets for fresh produce.
Few are taking the time to teach children the values of tilling the earth and watching it produce edible food. That lesson is only a seed packet away.
There was a time, during World War ll, when communities planted victory gardens and all shared in the work as well as the crop. There was one planted in what is now my front yard.
(Editor’s Note: Eunice currently has a community garden in the former Guillory Developmental Center. For information about a plot there call Sue Street at 457-9411 or 512-799-7380.)
Each family planted a different vegetable and after they harvested what they needed to feed their respective families, the rest was shared with other families, who shared their crops as well.
My grandpa planted turnips that grew as big as small watermelons and shared with his brother-in-law who had a bumper crop of corn. And so on and so forth.
Lots of sharing and caring in those war years. Good news is it can still be done, if only within families. Take the time to show a child how to plant a seed, watch it geminate and produce fruit. The child will thank you as will Mother Nature.

Georgie Manuel.
April 13, 2014.