So tonight I weeded my garden.  Not one of the things that are high on my to do list.  My husband and I were in the garage having a beer and talking.  We haven't had much time lately to just talk.  We were actually taking about what we needed to put in the camper, but hey we were talking right!  He went out the back garage door to the ally.  My garden is behind the shed and next to the garage.  We stood there for a minute and then we just started pulling weeds.  We did one row and he stood up.  I kept going and said that I might just finish because it was cooler out now.  Before I knew it he was weed eating around the back of the house, garage and shed.  Ben came to help me.  It took all of about 15 minutes to do the whole thing.  They were so easy to pull because the ground is so dry.

This garden is small.  I have 8 tomato plants, a cantalope, 5 pepper plants, a row of beans, and 1 plant each of three types of squash.  I love to can tomatoes.  I hate to can beans, but love to eat then raw off the plant.  I freeze the green peppers and use the hot peppers in salsa.  The squash we eat and love every meal the we get out of it.  I can feed my family of 5 off the tomatoes for a whole winter.  This is something my mother did and her mother before her.  I feel connected to my grandma when I can.  I used many of the same jars she had.  She passed when I was only 7 and I don't remember much about her.  Most of the things I know are stories that my mom, aunts, and unlces tell me.  Most of the jars that came from her are jelly glasses and those are my favorites!  She had some of the most beautiful jelly glasses I've ever seen.

My mother came from a very poor family.  She was the youngest of eleven children.  From things she tells me life was not easy.  Then again life isn't easy for anyone.  Her dad was born in 1903 and her mother was born in 1907.  They had a young family during the Great Depression.  They grew all their own food.  For them gardening was a have to not a want to! They had a lot of mouths to feed.  Everyone had to work to get through daily life. They didn't have indoor plumbing and they certainly didn't have a car. I don't really know if Grandma loved to garden and can the way I do. 

Life was very different back then.  The things that are part of everyday life for us was a luxury to them.  When I work in my little garden and I can the produce that cames out of it, I have pride.  Pride that I grew the food.  Pride that I know how to preserve it so that my family can enjoy it all year long.  Pride in knowing that the art of canning and growing came from my parents and grandparents.  Pride in a job well done. 

 My dads mom will be 84 in September.  The garden has always been something that she had to do to feed her family too.  However I get to hear her stories and I know just from listening to her that she has a passion for it.  She has a garden about three time the size of mine.  Every spring I tell her what I plan to grow and she tells me about her plans.  Every summer for the last 5 or 6 years she tells me that this is her last year planting.  I know better. It has kept her looking forward to the next day, week, and month to see what has grown.  I know that as long as she can walk she will plant.  I hope that my love for it is as strong as her.  My maternal grandma did it, but I never got to see if she had a passion for it like my paternal grandma.  I hope that someday I'll be able to pass on the jars from my maternal grandma.  More inportantly I hope to pass on the passion of gardening that my Meemaw has passed on to me.   Tonight when Ben came out and asked if he could help I was so  happy!  I feel blessed to be able to teach my children how to care for a garden.  I would love to teach them how to can.  My husband helps me if he's home so maybe they can help their wives.  With the fast pace of todays society I hope that they do carry on this on little thing that has been a big part of my family.  It's funny how a little thing like pulling weeds can make someone feel so good.