Working in the Garden

A few weeks ago in kindergarten, Rachel's class learned about seeds. They made their own "greenhouse" out of construction paper and a sandwich bag and put a lima bean in it with a wet papertowel. Rachel brought hers home and it started sprouting in the "greenhouse." She decided she wanted to plant it so we put it in another little cup she had brought home from school with another little plant in it. The cup was about the size of a bathroom Dixie cup. We didn't even really plant the lima bean in there. Robert just kind of threw it on top of the dirt and then we sat the cup in the kitchen window. Let me tell you - that lima bean thrived in our window! It grew & grew and pretty much started taking over the window.

We told Rachel she should ask Papaw if she could plant it in his garden. You see, Papaw usually plants a garden each year for the primary purpose of having green beans. There are usually a few tomato plants and sometimes some okra, but the primary reason for the garden is to have green beans. Rachel and Katelyn decided they wanted to help Papaw plant his garden this year. So on Friday it was time to plant the garden. Papaw worked on the garden most of the day, and then we headed over there right after school. Papaw left 2 rows of green beans for the girls to plant and some potatoes for the girls to plant. He found a couple of sticks that were about a foot long and showed the girls how to lay the stick down and plant 2 beans at each end of the stick and then move it down. That way, they would be fairly evenly spaced. I think they girls took his instructions to heart because they tried their very best to make sure they put the beans exactly at the end of the stick and they made sure they just planted 2 beans at each end! They were so cute working in the garden! After planting the green beans, Papaw let the girls finish planting the potatoes. Papaw & Mamaw haven't planted potatoes in several years, but I was talking about what fun I used to have digging up the potatoes when I was young, and they decided to plant potatoes again so that the girls could help. After planting, it was time to cover up what we planted. So we walked up and down the rows and made sure to cover everything up with the dirt that had been dug out. Needless to say, the girls ended up with quite dirty feet!!! After that, Papaw showed them how to throw out fertilizer on our newly planted garden. Then came the moment she had been waiting for - Rachel got to plant her lima bean!! Papaw dug a small hole for it and Rachel got to plant it. Then Papaw put a cage around it so that the vine would have something to climb. Rachel was quite proud of her lima bean! Too bad we don't eat lima beans!!! Anyway, Papaw showed us how he dug the rows with an old plow that had belonged to my Papaw I think.

The funniest thing of the evening was Robert! He was hilarious! When we got dressed to go over there, he decided he had to wear his overalls! That in itself was pretty funny, but it's even funnier when you realize his overalls are flannel lined and it was 70 degrees outside! Here we were in shorts and Robert was in flannel lined overalls!!! He didn't do any of the planting though - he just supervised! On the way over to Mamaw & Papaw's house, Robert talked in his best farmer voice, which was actually his best East Tennessee hillbilly imitation! It was so funny! Katelyn loved it! She kept saying "Daddy - talk like a farmer again! It's funny!" And then she would giggle! Rachel got tired of the whole farmer talk, and she would say "Daddy - that's enough of that talk. It's starting to frustrate me!"

Here are some pictures from our evening. Even though Robert didn't do any of the planting, he did ham it up a bit for the camera!