A really good friend of mine follows the signs as to when to plant. There are certain times to plant root crops and vine crops and fruiting crops and on and on. My friend usually has a really good garden. Old timers used to follow the Farmer’s Almanac for gardening advice. I also have good friends who plant whatever whenever with no regards for the time and they have good gardens. Some plant according to the calendar.
From the time I was pretty little I’ve been on a journey learning how to garden. Marge and I were raised by good gardeners. The summer after we were married we had about a 30-by-30 garden. (Ask Marge about the garden visitor!) We have had a garden every year since then, so over 50 years of gardening together. I’ve read and studied gardening as well as took the Master Gardeners Course at Jackson. I subscribe to several gardening magazines, gone to a ton of seminars and researched gardening on line. I’ve studied and taught how one can use the average last and first frost date to coordinate planting, especially tomatoes.
Down through all those years, a soft quiet voice would whisper to my mind and heart about a lot of things. When to fish and where. My brother-in-law Gary would at times get aggravated because I caught fish and he didn’t. Or I’d feel like I should take my Ruger 220 Swift because we might see a coyote. We in fact did see a coyote. I outshot a really good pistol shooter. He said I cheated. Some would say I’m hearing voices and mostly loony tunes!
This past summer, we planted a bunch of our old potatoes from a year ago as well as some new ones we bought. After we had planted all our potatoes, Marge and I (mostly Marge) felt the urge to plant some corn on the ends of the rows of potatoes. I was busy, so Marge dug a furrow, planted the corn and covered it up. When the corn came up, it was really pretty. Most of the corn sprouted, so there was a nice plot of sweet corn. It got to the place we could smell the sweet corn as we drove by in the side by side.
We drove by one day and I thought the one ear looked ready. Pulled and shucked it and it was ready. Marge suggested we pick it right then. We went out the next day and picked five ears of corn. The raccoons had a feast. Marge was right and I didn’t listen!
Two or three times in the past couple months I’ve needed a hog ringer. We don’t have hogs, but a hog ringer is really handy to have. I’d checked out the church’s garage sale several times and found odds and ends. Felt the urge to check one more time. There was an old cigar box full of hog ringing tools as well as a bunch of hog rings. Just what I was wanting. Ever so soft and quiet Marge and I listen to that still small voice when it whispers.
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