As country girls who often spent summer days picking peas and summer nights playing with the garden hose, my sissies and I know all about being wet and dirty. And I must admit that I was having flashbacks of all of this during yesterday's volunteer event. I was helping install garden beds for a local environmental group. As part of the wood chip team, with pitch fork in hand, I dug from a steaming heap of wood chips, throwing piles of the stuff in wheelbarrows, and then carting it over to be placed in garden beds alongside heaps of compost. Did I mention that it rained most of the time?
I only did this for an hour and a half but within that time, I managed to get drenched by rain and come away awfully dirty. I honestly don't remember the last time I got into the dirt like that. I was only slightly embarrassed later when I stepped out of the car in front of my apartment, hair slicked to my head, boots caked with mud, and streaks of dirt all over clothes.
I've done a whole of volunteer work in my life but never did I feel such a back-to-basics sort of appreciation for what I was doing. The whole project is geared toward getting kids engaged in horticulture and environmental work so I can't help but think if I felt this appreciation in a couple hours of work, it will become engrained in them, too. I was also ecstatic to see all the kids that parents brought along to help in our endeavor. One little girl picked up a shovel next to me and announced, "I love to dig!" and then she got right to work, literally digging in.
Can't wait to see her reaction once the plants start to bloom. And I can't help but admit that I'm pretty darn excited to see that, too. And maybe play with the worms. Ahh, summer....
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