My Very Own Garden

When my boys were little, we read Lobel's stories about Frog & Toad all the time.  The one they loved the most was when Toad tried to grow a gardent from the seeds Frog gave him.  Toad yelled at them continually to start growing until Frog came along and determined they were too scared to grow.  Toad then was worried the seeds would be too scared to grow if he left them alone, so he read to them, sang to them and stayed up all night until he finally fell asleep.  At last the seeds poked up out of the ground and there was much happiness on Toad's part.

Many years ago, a folk singer wrote a song about the story and I used to sing it to the kids.  (I know it was many years ago because my oldest just graduated from college last week... so it had to have been at least 20+ years ago.)

Yesterday, with the sun shining and summer's scent on the breeze, I figured it was time for me to once again plant my very own garden.  I visited the local community farm and picked up a couple of varieties of tomatos, tomatillos, lettuce, broccoli, sugar peas and peppers.  I picked up some herbs to add to the herb garden and planted them in fresh soil all while singing the story of Toad's garden.

This morning, I looked out on the gray New England morning that was such a stark contrast to yesterday's bright sun and noticed that the little broccoli seedlings I was so worried about seemed to nestle in and stand up a little straighter.  I could also see my tomatoes and tomatillos reaching up, willing themselves to grow and the peppers saying, "Not so fast, bubb... I can do this too!"  In that moment, I knew there was also a story growing in that garden.

I don't know what it is yet, like the little seedlings, it needs a chance to wiggle its roots around in the fresh earth and reach up towards the sun.