Plowing in the Garden with Grandpa By: Lillian Carol Russell I remember in the spring when we were children, following behind grandpa McDaniel in the garden followed the old plw horse and turned the soft warm dirt, getting it ready for the garden. It felt good to our bare feet and was the first time since winter that we were allowed to get barefoot. I love remembering the smell of the dirt, what a heavenly scent, especially after a spring shower. He yelled gee and haw to Prince, the horse knew the commands so well. Gee; turn left and haw; turn right. The rows were always straight as an arrow. The plowing was repeated until the rich brown Louisiana dirt was as soft as silk beneath our toes. The vegetable garden was always so exciting for us, they always let us help plant the seed. We couldnt wait to watch the new green plants peeking out from the earth. We helped set the tender green tomato plants and rejoiced that they let us run back and forth to the water faucet to carry water to each baby plant. When those tomatoes came in we felt like we were just as responsible for them as grandma and grandpa. I cherish these memories; they truly were the good old days, before television, before video games. You never heard us say: “I’m bored, there’s nothing to do.” We knew how to play and entertain ourselves. We had a grand playhouse between the wash house and smoke house. Daddy even put an old two burner wood stove out there and forbid us to ever put a fire in it. He put nails on the walls and hung old pots and pans there for us. Back in those days pots would get holes in them and when they did we got them for the play house. Our cousins would visit and we had the best time playing in that old playhouse. We made many a mud pie and pots of mud soup. We often sneaked into the house and got flour and meal to put in the mud soup and many an egg never found its way into the house because we often raided the hen house. We broke up pieces of grass and green weeds for our salads and pretend vegetables. Sometimes we even got laundry powder from the wash house, added a little water and beat up some beautiful icing for our mud cakes. After adding some spring blossoms for decoration, they really did look good enough to eat. Once we broke the rule and built a fire in the wood stove and that mud soup was bubbling away when mama caught us. It was fun while it lasted. I know I had a busy guardian angel, real busy! Life was good back when life was simple.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 06:09:36 +0000
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