Does it Grow Corn?
I used to think scarecrows were ornamental and that hay bales were put there by farmers for Andrew Wyeth to paint. ~ Colleen
The peninsula I grew up on, called Hull, Massachusetts, is 6 miles long and less than ½ mile wide in most places. The tip, called “Hull Village,” is where my family lived from 1955 to 1975 and is only connected to the rest of the peninsula by the width of the road that takes you there. Out of the way and exposed by the elements, the Atlantic Ocean on one side and Boston Harbor on the other, we may as well have lived on an island.
Hull, also known as Nantasket, is not exactly rural, and it’s not suburbia either. We did have one hold-out farmer type, “Pop Hannon,” when I was growing up. Some of my 8 siblings and many of the kids in the neighborhood witnessed him chop the heads off of chickens, but I only ever saw the bloody chopping block he used.
For many years my family had a vegetable garden. I remember the soil as rich and dark, and we didn’t have wildlife vying for our crops to the degree that we do here in Virginia. Except for the corn we ate in August, most of us kids took the garden for granted and didn’t much like being made to work in it. My father tried to convince us to set up a vegetable stand at the end of our driveway, but we wouldn’t have been caught dead doing that.
I began my first garden in earnest during a major depression at the age of 19. Gardening has been a way of life for me ever since.
“There are two ways to be rich. One is to have a lot of money. The other is to have few needs,” said William Coffin Sloan, the peace activist, when I heard him speak years ago in Blacksburg. We have jobs to make money so that we can buy what we need. Mostly what we need is food and shelter. I consider gardening as a way to provide for some of my needs directly. In part, because of my gardening lifestyle, I have enjoyed a certain amount of freedom from the 9 to 5 rat race.
But my garden is not photogenic. I’m a sloppy gardener, I admit. I tend to grow what will be prolific and non-fussy, perennials, and vegetables like kale and Swiss chard that grow back when you cut them. As overgrown as the garden looks by late July, in midst of renewal and death, the chaos of weeds, and battle with bugs and critters, my garden produces a lot of food.
There’s a Native American saying: “Will it grow corn?” It’s used when questioning the validity of something and means ‘Will your actions produce fruitful results?’
In the case of my garden, my answer is “yes.” It really does grow corn (as evidenced by the above photo…one foot high a week ago and still growing strong).
Loving thanks to my husband, Joe, who hauled the manure and straw bales of mulch, tilled, planted potatoes, and built a bird-proof structure around my blueberries (his least favorite fruit).
June 28th, 2005 10:45 am
Yummy!!! I love to garden but don’t have the patience to dead head and weed… I just want to plant and explode in an abundance of color ;0) I think gray streaks are cool…esp on darker hair like yours…I won’t ever go all gray, but I’d love to have long gray hair when I’m in my sixties…something wise about it I guess ;0)
June 28th, 2005 10:45 am
Yummy!!! I love to garden but don’t have the patience to dead head and weed… I just want to plant and explode in an abundance of color ;0) I think gray streaks are cool…esp on darker hair like yours…I won’t ever go all gray, but I’d love to have long gray hair when I’m in my sixties…something wise about it I guess ;0)
June 28th, 2005 10:45 am
Yummy!!! I love to garden but don’t have the patience to dead head and weed… I just want to plant and explode in an abundance of color ;0) I think gray streaks are cool…esp on darker hair like yours…I won’t ever go all gray, but I’d love to have long gray hair when I’m in my sixties…something wise about it I guess ;0)
June 28th, 2005 12:57 pm
Blueberries are my favorite! I don’t garden anymore; I do have 2 tomato plants, but that is all. I miss having one, but our soil is all clay and rock – impossible to cultivate!
June 28th, 2005 3:42 pm
I envy you….all I can grow are weeds….lots and lots of them. So “will it grow corn?” NO.
June 28th, 2005 4:16 pm
We normally plant a garden. This year we didnt plant much. Only watermelon and we have yet to see any fruit from our vines. But our vines look wonderful and continue to grow. So we shall see.. Your garden is lovely. Growing up we always had a garden. Its always been a part of my life..
Ivy..
June 28th, 2005 6:23 pm
Colleen, how is your ankle. I saw where you wrote that you had acupuncture for it. Did that help a lot?
June 28th, 2005 6:49 pm
nice site. Thanks for coming to mine from Michelle. I spent many summers as a kid at a summer camp near Lexington, VA. Loved it there. Is that near u?
I have what some call a black thumb. I can’t grow anything.
War Eagle
June 28th, 2005 9:28 pm
*sighing* I LOVE to garden, but have given it up because I got tired of feeding the bugs. I glad someone out there enjoys it! Will it grow corn? Well, yes, but my corn was always full of those nasty worms. ick.
Michele sent me today. 🙂
June 28th, 2005 10:48 pm
Hope your ankle will continue to get better. Thanks for answering.
June 28th, 2005 11:20 pm
It’s a beautiful garden!
I used to garden, but I’ve gotten lazy. I mostly grow perennial flowers and herbs.
I was thinking of posting pictures of them! maybe this weekend.
June 29th, 2005 1:31 am
Now I know who to come to for gardening advice. I’m still very new to the game and since I live in an apartment everything must be done in containers.
I’m not very talanted at it, but I love growing things and I learn more with each attempt. Once we get some land of our own no doubt I will make space for a garden. Perenials make much more sense, in my opinion. Whoever said that a kale and swiss chard aren’t photogenic?