I especially admire today's youthful movement toward gardening because I sadly didn't appreciate the family gardens when I was growing up. I reluctantly helped do some planting and picking, but I avoided the gritty job of weeding whenever possible. I always loved eating Mom's fried okra and fresh tomatoes or Grandma's green beans. But I was a bit like the lazy friends of the Little Red Hen when it came to pitching in. As a farm kid with other messy jobs, I don't remember there being any sort of cool factor to getting dirt under my fingernails.
It's inspiring that some of the garden experts I'm learning from today are younger than I am. And that in their own way they've made gardening cool again. I look forward to learning from my recent mistakes and soaking up all of the best information in order to improve. The learning curve has been steepest when it comes to using organic methods, something I previously knew nothing about.Who knows if my kids will always think gardening is cool or if I'll compel them to weed for me when they're teenagers? But for now, they still like to help and they usually eat the vegetables we grow. Here's hoping for a fun season in the garden!