As a child, I could not wait for Spring! Not just for flowers and warmer weather but a chance to help to help plant seeds with my daddy, who we affectionately call, "Papa Joe" in his garden!
In April, my dad would til the ground near our clothes line to create a beautiful bed to plant vegetables in. I would sit on the steps with my yellow Great Dane, Scot watching with excitement and a cool glass of water for my daddy as he turned over the earth with his green John Deere Walk Behind Tiller. And then we would go "to the country" to our homestead, where the garden was much larger, a gigantic one that he shared with his brother, "Uncle Buster", who had six children to my dad's three! This garden required a heavy duty 1975 Ford Tough tractor which to this day, still runs amazingly like new!
I would yell as loud as my little voice could over the grinding tiller motor and the roaring tractor engine, "Daddy, can I try?" and hope for a different answer each year only to be met with from my daddy, "Shit, no! You will never remember tearing up something here!" This answer never stopped me from believing that one day I would master plowing the earth with a piece of machinery instead of the hoe or the shovel I was given to work with. And you better believe I worked those tools to prove that one day I would be worthy to upgrade to the big toys!
Fast forward 45 years and who gets to drive the tractor, my 15 year old son! My dad assured me that it had nothing to do with me being a girl but everything to do with a rite of passage. Ok... yeah, right.. ! Even 7 years later, with my son now at the age of 22 years old, I choose to be out of all the favors in the world, "salty" on this one. And no, I am still not allowed to drive the tractor! LOL!
Over the years, our backyard garden has turned into a flower bed, and with the loss of our "Uncle Buster" our homestead garden is a little smaller and our family herbs are now grown in a our window boxes of our various homes but the harvest of my dad's garden still still brings forth life to this day.
Along with the tangible vegetables it still provides, the lessons that we all learned from growing our own food, supporting local farmers, and honoring the earth will render a bountiful growth and harvest throughout generations.
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