Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Gardening In Our Blood

When autumn time arrived last year,
I said, "I've really had it, dear!
I've raked and hoed and picked and canned;
Just see that callus on my hand!
You know what I've been thinking, dear?
Lets let our garden go next year.
We'll buy all those things in the store-
They wouldn't cost us too much more.
When summer comes I'll sleep till ten,
Get up and clean the house, and then
I'll make a glass of lemonade
And go sit beneath the shade.
When you come home at night from work,
I'll put the coffee on to perk,
Then we'll sit down and talk or read
And never think of garden seed."
Remember how you smiled and said,
"I think you've really used your head
To save us all this work next year
I'm sick of gardening, too, my dear."

But then one day, the sky was blue,
The sun was warm, the tulips grew.
The April days grew long and free,
The ground lay waiting patiently.
The sleeping grass awoke to green,

And then in every magazine
Were ads for bulbs and plants and seeds-
In fact, for all your gardening needs.
One day you picked me up downtown.
With bundles I was loaded down.
No need to try and hide the facts
With "Burpee Seeds" stamped on the sacks.
Remember how your face got red
And how you turned away and said,
"When we've unloaded all that junk,
I have a few things in the trunk.
I'll need some help, for it is hot
And seed potatoes weigh a lot."

So now we stand here, hand in hand
And gaze at our productive land.
The berry beds are weeded clean,
The vegetables are tall and green.
We love our land in drought or mud,
For we have gardening in our blood.


~ Jean Little~

9 comments:

  1. SciFiChick,

    Great poem/post!!!!
    I know we're all thinking this with the heat and triple digit temperatures.

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  2. I'd hit the like button if there was one.

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  3. It's not autumn that makes me wonder what I was thinking to start gardening... It's the heat of July. At least I know to expect the attitude now.

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  4. First let me apologize for not responding to each of you separately. I've exceeded my bandwidth allowance and have been put in "time out". (Wild Blue SUX)

    Sandy, I thought you might like this one. Garden time here is just about done for a couple of weeks and then the fall garden needs to be started. I sure needed the break. Without a/c here I'm about to melt! 115 degrees is the forecast here for today:(

    DFW LOL I think that all the time while reading blogs. We need a "like" button!

    Cristy,Same here. I'm wavering about the fall garden now, but I know its just because of the heat and all the work that has been done so far. I know I'll be planting again soon! LOL!

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  5. I agree with sfg, that was a cute poem. :) I also want a "like" button for the blogs because I am constantly looking for it. Damn Facebook has us trained. LOL

    Hugs
    ~Fel~

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  6. Oh my gosh, that was great! Hit the nail right on the head you did!

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  7. Very good read, my friend! I enjoyed it!

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  8. Wow this poem is really wonderful.I like the way it describes the activity of a garden in various seasons and finishing with a great line saying gardening is in his blood.

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