The Farmer near The Dells

"Say what?"

I’ve got to hand it to Jordan, my son-in-law. Kudos to you dear Jordan.

When my daughter, Brittany, told me she wanted to plant a little vegetable garden in their backyard in Minnesota I was like, “uh oh” in my mind but outwardly I was encouraging.
Brittany hails from a long line of gardeners. Her dad, grandpa, and older sister are super gardeners or have been with much success. I’ve tried my hand at it in the past myself. And I remember with much fondness “The Great Garden” in El Cerrito, one summer back in the 60's when my mom with my brothers’ help dug up the entire backyard lawn to plant a huge garden. We loved that summer with fresh peas, corn, potatoes, carrots, radishes and beets, etc. We loved that Mom was really invested in it which meant she did most of the work, before, during and after. She was the little red hen. We were the cows and pigs and sheep waiting to reap the benefits. And now, Brittany had called and asked me where to begin.

“The internet,” I replied. “That’s where all the answers to life are found”. She described what she had in mind. Nothing very big, just a small little area that her little family could grow a few little things and thereby grow together.

“Start with http://www.lds.org/ and look up the information under provident living,” I began again. “Then move onto square foot gardening”.

But she kept asking for more information.

“Get a few 2x4’s or 1x8’s or 2x8’s or whatever they're called at Home Depot, set up a little area on the grass, lay down some plastic, add some dirt and plant the vegetables.”

More questions.

“Like I said, go to the internet,” I responded again a little more exasperated. What did I know? I’m down here living by the beach and it’d been awhile since I’d grown something other than my waistline.

Don’t get me wrong. I thought it was a terrific idea. I reminded her of all the people she knew who had started out just like her, wanting just a little garden, and with the passing of years they’d become prolific gardeners. “Keep a garden journal so you know what to do differently next year. You can do it! Good for you! Way to go!” I cheered her on, thinking back to the last time my homegrown tomatoes and zucchini cost me about $2 a piece for all the money that went into my project.

“We’re going to get started on Saturday,” she reported cheerfully. And so they did.

I heard from her Saturday night, around 11pm.

“I have to talk quietly. Jordan’s trying to sleep and I’m talking under the covers.”

“Did you go to Home Depot?” I asked.

And then it began, the story about why I love my son-in-law.

Poor Jordan. Turns out he went to Ikea early Saturday morning to buy and take home bedroom furniture for their guest bedroom. Ikea can be fun but it’s never just a quick little visit. Several hours later upon his return Brittany had all 3 kids ready to go for the trip to begin “the garden”. They went to WalMart first and got almost absolutely nowhere. They next went to Home Depot. Now I may have a little bit of this part mixed up, but the point is no one knew what they were doing, least of all the Home Depot guy who apparently took 10 minutes to answer each question; that means 5 minutes processing the question and then 5 minutes thinking about the solution. Brittany was trying to clarify her vision after having studied whatever she could online like cubic feet of a special soil mix of peat moss and vermiculite and fertilizer, and boards and brackets and screws and Annie and Jake were running around going nuts, and baby Juliette probably needed nursing and Jordan, I’m sure, just wanted to go home and watch sports, and guess what, these kids don’t even have a shovel or a spade or a rake or a hoe. Wheelbarrow? Fuggetaboudit. Annie had been promised a place for sunflowers and marigolds. And Brittany had also decided to do some container gardening on their back deck. By the time they got home Brittany told Jordan he just needed to dig up the little 4ft x 8ft patch of lawn and they’d begin. However, no one told either Britt or Jord that they live on Minnesota clay that is hard as rock. Three hours later with the sun having set Jordan was still in the backyard, trying to dig up the lawn with the borrowed shovel from the neighbor. This was after he’d lugged everything from the front to the back without a wheelbarrow. And after he’d carried all the furniture boxes from Ikea that morning into the basement. And after trying to secure the boards into some sort of rectangle with a battery-dead screwdriver. I can guarantee, many a loving couple would be divorced by now.

But he prevailed! And he did it! Yes, every muscle in his body was killing him. And I think that while Brittany was laughing under the covers while telling me how badly she felt for Poor Jordan and Jordan was probably secretly lying there with his eyes closed wondering why he thought getting married and having a family and getting a job and being responsible and growing up was EVER a good idea I just had to admire them both. When those little seedlings start to pop up out of the earth and they have their first meal of home-grown beans and zucchini and cucumbers it just might be all worth it as the family that weeds together, feeds together. I’ll be visiting in July. Can’t wait to reap the harvest.