Roll With Changes

Momma gardens less when it’s really hot. Summer should be a time to slow down. But over the past few years, she’s more serious about gardening only mornings and evenings.

When it cooled down, we went out for a garden walk. “I’ll check the squash and get a cabbage for slaw,” she said. During the day, she’d made supper, but some slaw sounded good. She makes the only slaw that I really like.

First, we walked by the cucumber. They’re a bit out of the way, so I like to make her go check them for the extra exercise. “Two! We have two cucumbers! They’re not perfect, but if it rains, they’ll be too big tomorrow,” I said. I put the cukes in her bag that hangs on her cane handle. We talked about the heavy gray storm cloud lurking over the field.

She can’t lean, manage the cane, pick the squash, and get it in the bag. So she picks it and tosses it over onto a pile of hay. She tosses over two late carrots and says, “I see a few potatoes that ran away this morning.” She tosses a red and white one onto the hay target.

We’d dug potatoes in the morning. She believes that potato digging must be the most fun thing that children can do. This morning she was in heaven. She sat in a folding chair surrounded by an entire kindergarten class. They'd come to the farm for a field trip and for potato digging. Momma sat in the middle, cane leaning on one side, her loyal dog on the other, intern Sam in the middle following digging instructions. She told them everything she knew about potatoes. They ate it up.

I know why she loves this. She’s often told us about digging potatoes with her Grandmother. They stored them in a pile outside, layered in straw, under a big tin cap. The memory physically delights her. She laughs, and she says, “It was magic putting my hand in there and pulling out a potato. Magic!”

I asked, "Do you think they'll remember today when they grow up?"

But her answer to my question was a surprise. “I don’t know. But the teachers! Not one of them had ever grown potatoes! They were so amazed. They didn’t know that you plant potatoes on Valentine’s Day and harvest end of May. One of them said she was planting her own potatoes next year. And one of the teachers asked if we planted potato seeds!”

Well, I thought, that’s a great way to look at it. You can’t always teach who or what you want to teach, but if someone catches a little wisdom, a little inspiration, be happy that someone got it.

I gathered the evening veggies, put them in her bag, and hung it on the cane. She moved on to the house as the raindrops started. The dog was way ahead of her.

I stopped at the barn to have a beer and write this. Later, with supper, she said a prayer and asked, ‘You know Pat’s retiring from the Wheel?” I did know that. What surprised me tonight wasn’t Pat Sajack’s retirement but that we didn’t have slaw. She laughed at herself, “I forgot! I made cucumbers and onions instead because I’m so happy to have fresh cucumbers again.”