Back in the Garden

Here are Wilson Blount and Andrew digging potatoes today. We filled two five gallon pails with the spuds - enough for every child to take home enough potatoes for a meal. Everyone, kids and adults, love this potato harvest when we find such treasure underground. Our hands are black with dirt and we exclaim about every worm we find in this good soil.

It was so hot today, but no one complained. We removed many spent broccolis and gone to seed lettuces and the collards that were riddled with holes from the caterpillars. We examined the one tomato horn worm we found on a pepper plant. It was HUGE and I wanted to squash it, but it was taken away to the side of the woods.

There are still a few rows of beans about to produce and a full bed of cabbage, summer peas, peppers, okra, and the cheerful flowers along the walkway.

I love this companionable time with interested kids in the garden. I have no need to shoot out the teacher energy to get them on track. There is enough time to examine everything and we don't mind that some kids are sorting through worms, catching insects, washing the potato harvest. They are not thinking about what plants need to be removed to the compost or what cover crops we should plant for the summer. They are doing what kids should do. I celebrate this.

This is the best of the best!