Gardens are a big part of my life now...It wasn't always so...My Mom was a gardener...It was her sacred place, her happy place and where she went to think and get away from everyday problems..Although I loved flowers and eating fresh food from a garden, I could buy all of those things from the store, and save myself so much work!...Until things changed in my life...First my mom moved from Utah to Elgin, Oregon, just 50 miles from me instead of 600...She needed help with her gardens and I could do that, since I had summers off from my job, in the hot lunch room at Joseph schools...Then suddenly I began to have trouble with vertigo, dizziness that didn't go away...On good days, I helped Mom in her garden and found solace in digging in the dirt, also I could take my frustrations out on dirt clods and weeds, maybe digging in the dirt was a good thing for me.
This brings me back to the present as I look around at beautiful flowers and think about the reason this all started...Early on in the planting of any flower that caught my eye, to flower boxes that were planted with love to remember our families, no longer with us...Herbs mother always said, "Don't waste flowers on me after i'm dead, I want to enjoy them while I'm alive."...So around Memorial Day every year, I started planting flowers for everyones enjoyment, but they are in remembrance of our parents and now of Herb...Herb didn't have much interest in gardens of any kind and even less interest in mowing lawns...Early on in our married life he proclaimed, "I will put down gravel, spray paint it green and never have to push a mower around."...But I wanted a lawn, some green grass!.. So he solved this problem, when he bought a riding mower and "happily" took up lawn mowing.
When we retired, we did some traveling during spring and fall months, but summers were spent at our most beautiful place, here on Barton Heights...We planted fruit trees, made more flower beds, digging in the dirt and planting became our life...Herb never complained about doing the heavy lifting, hauling wheel barrow loads of manure, so I could scatter it...We/I ordered huge loads of chips that we spread to keep the weeds at bay, he wasn't much into planting flowers and mostly called them "Della's Weeds," but he came to love them as much as I did...Our vegetable garden is another source of pleasure, from planting to harvest...His eyes lit up at the first rhubarb pie of the season, spears of asparagus on his dinner plate, scallions dipped in salt along with a sandwich and new potatoes and peas in a cream sauce, just like his mother used to make...We planted garlic every fall, harvested it in late July...He became a pro at peeling, slicing (with the help of the food processor) drying and pulverizing the garlic, so we could share it with family and friends.
Yesterday I spent the afternoon at Bill and Mona's, we had delicious chicken soup and biscuits for lunch, followed by a game of cards...So enjoyable!..I made sure to take photo's last night as the sun slid behind our mountains...Hugs To All...OWAV:)
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