Mom's playing in the dirt again!

Weeding feels good because:

• I can't hear the telephone.
• Digging in the dirt is fun.
• It doesn't matter if I'm all sweaty and grimy.
• I can appreciate the growth of my vegetables by comparing them to the weeds I'm pulling out.
• I see the little flowers that mean the plants will bear fruit -- some time.
• I can laugh at the tiny "stray" tomato plants that grew where the rotten fruit dropped last fall.
• The science teacher in me looks at all the clover and thinks, "Wow! There's a lot of nitrogen in this soil! Who needs fertilizer?"
• I notice the little grubs and worms that aerate the rich soil; and they're not, I said NOT, yucky.
• I notice how dark and rich the soil is, thanks to our home-grown compost.
• The weeds (well, most of them) will become part of the cycle of life by decomposing in the compost bin.
• Progress is noticeable. Every little bit of weeding shows results.

I heard a garden expert on the radio recommend that serious gardeners spend about 30 minutes a day weeding and maintaining. I don't come near that, so I guess I'm not "serious" by his standards. I do keep it up, though, and get my hands dirty and produce good things to eat. My garden makes me happy. Isn't that enough?

update: I have entered this post in Scribbit's Write-Away Contest. Details here.

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