Gettin' Our Feet Dirty

Yesterday was a perfect day for getting our feet dirty.

It was time to plant the vegetable garden.


Actually, we help plant the garden at my parent's house, so it's really a joint effort.  During the last several years, my dad has had two knee surgeries and my mom has had back surgery, so gardening can be physically difficult for them.  Since we don't have a garden at our house, my family helps plant, weed, and harvest my parent's garden instead.  It works out great for both of our families.

By now, the kids know that this large area of dirt will be a good portion of their work detail for the summer.

So excited, can you tell?

Actually, Aubrey has gotten to the point where she doesn't mind working in the garden.

Connor hasn't gotten there yet.

I still get a few grumbles from him.  Ah, just wait, he's gonna get worse come weeding time.  I'm ready for it - whining equals extra rows to weed. :)

Since Ronin already had a previously scheduled playdate with a friend, I didn't make him plant with us.  But don't worry, the weeds will soon be popping up, requiring lots of attention ALL summer long.

Besides, it helped keep Rigdon entertained for a little while.

Meanwhile, the afternoon warmed up and somewhere along the way Connor's shirt came off. 

During this portion of my life, I actually take pleasure in gardening....


...but when I was young, I was more like Connor.  Every morning in the summer my siblings and I would all wake up to individual chore lists hanging on the refrigerator that my mom would make before heading off to work.  It always involved weeding, weeding, and more weeding. 

But I eventually learned that having a bad attitude towards chores (aka - weeding) and complaining instead of doing always made the day much more miserable and long.

I didn't have it near as bad as my mom though.

As a child, she grew up on a farm and had to weed FIELDS!  Fields!!!! By HAND!!!!   Not a small garden spot in the backyard.


She and her siblings had to work much harder than we ever did.  In fact, she told me years ago that she never knew that the 4th of July was a holiday until she was a teenager because they were always sent out to work in the fields....no picnics, no fireworks, no day of fun....just work.
I quickly realized after that how easy I had it.  So no more complaining from me.

This is easy-peasy work in comparison.

One day, this little guy will get to start helping out too.

I am very grateful that my parents instilled the value of work in us kids .


I want to my kids to learn this concept as well.  I don't want them to have it easy.

Poor Connor, he got such a bad sunburn by the end of the day.  Since we only get a few months during the year where we actually have warm sunny days, our white skin burns so easily upon exposure after being covered by layers of clothes all winter long.

Well, Rigdon did end up helping out a little bit.  He brought out more water wells for the tomatoes with Grandpa.

Happy gardening, everyone!