garden

the only picture of the backyard in my possesion + lilly

Ode to my Momma

My mother has a wonderful and beautiful yard. Many hours of digging, moving hoses, unloading bolders, fortifing against deer, pruning, weeding and harvesting have been spent there. it's a place were the light seems to shine a little brighter, the rain must poor a little harder, therefore things grow a little better in the red clay of south east utah. Not true really, Monticello's is a harsh climate, my mom has done all the things nature should have done for her. even so, nature has rewarded all her hard work.

I remember as a little girl when our back yard was mostly just dirt. I loved it. Mom carved out a little "house" for us in the dirt, complete with a floor plan. We each had a room and there were stairs and even little chairs made out of the hard packed terra firma! One of my most cherished memories is mom making us a similar dirt house for our little holly hock dolls she made from the flowers. Purple blossoms were turned upside down for a skirt and the stems became a head of sorts. Then mom uprooted various wild flowers and weeds to make "trees" and gardens for our little dirt houses. It maybe took her 45 minutes. But the memory of it has lasted me 25 years.

Mom can grow anything in that garden of hers. I remember running out to the garden in my bare feet to pick corn, cucumber, tomatoes and peppers right before dinner, warm butter oozing down my chin and tomato juice stinging my chapped lips. We ate the peas right out of the patch. Standing to eat, then bending to pick more. My kids always get up early when we visit Grandma, to water the garden and eat some peas.

Of all the things my mom has grown, I'm sure she would say us four kids were her best harvest, and maybe so, but then again, have you ever tasted a juicy, perfectly acidic tomato grown of blood, sweat, tears and love in the red clay of southern utah? I sincerely hope that one day you will.