Country Gal

Country Gal
Country Gal by Vanita Blundell 3-14-06
It is St. Patrick’s Day again. Did your family have any traditions? We did not have anything that we did every year but I remember one year when my grandma put out her garden. This was at a time in our life when things were not the best as my granddad was confused and I think Grandma needed the garden to give her something else to think about. I think she must have been in her eighties and Dad called Charlie Lenertz to plow up her garden for her. Charlie had a little Ford tractor and it was small enough to get in her garden spot and her garden was large enough to require more horse power than we could muster to dig it up with a spade. It made easy work until I found out that we had to smooth it up with rakes. That was not so easy. But I was kind of a whiner, I know that is hard to believe but fact is stranger than fiction. The plowing needed to be done by early March as Grandma said that we to plant the potatoes on St. Patrick’s Day by the light of the moon. And we did. It is a fond memory that I have thinking about Mom, Dad, Grandma and I out in the garden in light of the moon planting all those potatoes. It seems that we planted two or three rows of spuds. When I moved back I thought that I could carry on the Cary garden. That is when I discovered that I have not only one black thumb but two. I tried to garden like Grandma but I had to learn that there was only one Alta Cary. Grandma not only had a vegetable garden she also had two or three flower beds. I tried but I just can not get it done. I would like to blame the grasshoppers but I think it is more than bugs. I bet Alta could have outsmarted them. In the spring I just want to plant everything. Oh I get big ideas, this is the year for a nice big garden, then when it gets hot and the harvest winds start to blow it loses its appeal. I think there is a word for that but I would rather not hear it.
It was a sad day when I heard on the news that Don Knott’s had died. Don Knott’s brought a lot of joy and happiness too many people. He was a wonderful ‘Barney Fife’. One of my favorite lines was “nip it- nip it in the bud.” He will truly be missed.