Woke up early this am to more rain. It has been raining hard all day, with flooding in the area. 4 to 5 inches today! Yikes. Suppose to have more the next few days. The rain put an end to any outside work to be done, so I made a batch of brownies, some hot tea and proceeded to go through my garden magazines.

I cannot bring myself to through away a gardening magazine. I have stacks of them dating back from the early 80's. Remember when OG was a smaller diminsion? I have found through the years that I go back and reference them often. I'm different than I was 20 years ago and something that might not have interested me then, now does. So I feel like I'm reading an article new again.

I came across an interesting article on why we garden. They featured 3 different people in the article, but my favorite was an old lady that looked to be in her 80's. My kind of gal. She had said that although her backed ached nowadays and she had less energy, she still couldn't help herself. She had to garden. It was who she was. I hope she is still doing so.

Which then got me to thinking. Both my grandmothers gardened, as did Dave's. But my mom and his, never did. Although my mom had 10 kids to keep her busy, she still wasn't that interested in gardening. Dave's mom was the typical sububan housewife. Last year my dad and FIL, both passed away. My mom and Dave's mom don't know what to do with themselves now. Shopping's only so much fun and Dave has had to take his mom to the doctor constantly for "illnesses". It's her nerves. I have often thought that if they had a passion such as gardening, goats, chickens, composting.....something besides watching soap operas, they would be much better off. Even if you're not physically able to have a full blown garden, they could in containers. They could start seeds, it's easy and it is a project that is so optomistic. What could be more exciting than nourishing them to life?

Although, I'm glad to eat tomatoes and other veggies from the garden because of the taste and I know how they have been grown, it's something else. Fun? Well, yes. Hard work? definately. Satisfying? absolutely. The older I get, the more I realize what a blessing this kind of life is. I will never be a bored older lady. I'm 45 now, but there is a world of things I still want to learn and will still be learning if I live to be 90.

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), March 17, 2002

Answers

I am with you, Annie! I love being outside, digging, pulling weeds, planting,feeding and checking on the animals. Every day is a new adventure! Just like today, it's raining and I go to feed the cows and they are out in the feild eating the green rye grass! I rounded them all up and walked the fence line--fixed a section of fence! It's fun --work, yes but it's fun!!!! If I live to be 100 I hope that I will be interested in SOMETHING besides the darn TV!

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), March 17, 2002.

I'm so sure of my thesis that I just have to share....Our human (pre- history) and/or humanoid ancestresses (read: female) had to keep the family fed. The best way to do this was to dig in the dirt for roots and grubs. This is how we survived 3.5 million years. The men hunting was essential for protein and all the survival materials resulting from the animals...but it wasn't to be counted on every day. Animals move...LOL. But if the women folk (and children) searched for berries, fruits, nuts, seeds, bugs and things from and within the ground while the menfolk were gone for days hunting, then they could feed the kids in the meantime. We always knew where the bushes and plants grew, where the water ran and where the rotten stumps were (edible bugs). It comes so natural, digging in the earth for our sustenance and medicinal herbs, etc. I can't wait to begin again. But note, that I will bypass the grubs. I would have to be awful hungry to enjoy them! How women have been undervalued in the survival of the species is a shame. Women's skills have not survived the ages. We used vegetable materials from the earth to better the family's life and ensure survival. Those things are not saved over the milliniums. They go back to the Earth as they should. Ultimate recycleing. Rattleing on...but enjoying it. Have fun with the thoughts.

-- Susan in Northern Mitten Michigan (cobwoman@yahoo.com), March 17, 2002.

Debbie, I reckon most of us gals won't fade away into the woodwork. No wallflowers are we!!! :) Pretty smart cows going for the good stuff, hee hee.

Susan, I was doing a little searching on the web on Native American agriculture and was surprised that the women did all the gardening. Clearing the fields to boot. My grandma did all of hers, plus chickens and a milk cow. Sad how we have become known as the "weaker sex". Maybe it started with the Victorian era and "progressed"? I think the 50's were the heyday with the dress, heels and pearl necklaces just to do housework! :) June Cleaver I'll never be.

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), March 17, 2002.

Annie, good for you! I bought into that heels and dresses while washing the kitchen floor for years and years. I really thought that's how it was done! Hello! Grew up and found out that TV lied big time. I also was mad at Peter Pan after I turned 12 and he didn't show up. LOL. I am still trying to get over that and I'm plenty old enough to know better. Oh well. I can love my horse and dogs and kids, they don't care what I dress in (well, maybe the kids mind a bit). Remember when it was an insult to say "Your mother wears combat boots"? Hehehehehe. Well, guess what.

-- Susan in Northern Mitten Michigan (cobwoman@yahoo.com), March 17, 2002.

Hi All, I just love coming here, thanks Phil! Such a peaceful oasis. Susan, I just had to chime in on "Your Mama wears combat boots" comment. How I remember when my children were small. 25 years ago I was a single Mom with 3 small children, I went to work as a construction worker, back when proper women didn't "do" that;) This was in the 70's. I was lucky enough to be hired as a secretary by a sub-contractor. When his advances were rejected, and I mentioned I'd trade being reported for his advances, for a real job with the crew, what could he say? I was my Dad's only son, or should I say child?? HeeHee. Anyhow, I started earning more than I ever made previously, and was able to give the little ones things they never could have dreamed of having previously. I wore a pair of men's construction shoes, with toes stuffed, because they didn't make women's construction shoes back then. My kids were SO proud of their Mama wearing combat boots;) In the summertime, they helped me in the large garden, pulling weeds, back in the hot sun of Indiana. My Dad taught me all about the love of gardening, and today I have more time to do it more leisurely, and it's become my passion. Today we live elsewhere, and the kids all have their own families. Some of the best memories they ever had, and tell stories about, though, are those years of combat boots and toiling in the hot sun to produce our fresh foods. I married my husband 23 years ago, and life has been different since then, much for the better, but the children learned such lessons in those lean years. They all are better people today for the experiences we had then, they all have told me. Yep, I agree, we women got a bad rap somewhere along the line, we aren't all June Cleaver's. Smiles! Linda

-- Linda (lindabe@ywave.com), March 17, 2002.

I was always told you'll rust away before you'll wear out. Good incentive for gardening, huh?

-- Sandra Nelson (magin@starband.net), March 18, 2002.