Dirty Girl

I'm a dirty girl. That's right, you heard me say it (actually, see it typed but if you were here as I had my moment of revelation as to what to write about this morning, you would have heard it). I have a set of garden gloves that I've worn a few times but they just don't give me the freedom of feeling the dirt sift between my fingers as I work in the garden. I love the feel of the plants I put in the ground, the seeds I sprinkle in to germinate to feed us, and I even love to pull out the "pests" who take up the necessary room for my desire to create a sustainable living landscape.
My boys are both up this time this morning, cheering me on as I write this post. My preschooler loves to garden. He has his own raised bed box, and we planted seed tapes together earlier this season. Radishes, chives, beets, and spinach is coming in already. I know we planted one more set of tapes but it escapes me at this moment as to what they were. We also threw in some wildflower seeds to see what comes up. When the time is right, we'll put in a tomato plant for him to pick his own tomatoes, maybe a bean bush, and perhaps a cucumber vine and a couple of herbs. Its not a big box but if you follow your season, you can utilize it like you wouldn't believe. My youngest could care less so long as he's just there to watch the process, that's if he's not taking a power nap before his next round of unbridled energy.
This year, I'm putting in both flowers and edibles. Veggies, herbs, some dwarf fruit trees. Flowers that come back year after year, some that have to be replaced by the following year, and bushes & small trees to add character to the small piece of landscape we have in the midst of what's called "Urban Vermont." Personally, having grown up here in the state, this is more like the suburbs to anyone moving in, and having been other places in my life, this is more the 'burbs to even me. Before the purchase of the house, we did live in a more urban part of the area. It wasn't too bad but being a dirty girl, I love my country side better. Therefore, the 'burbs are a good second place for me to inhabit. I like it here.
So, to all the dirty girls out there, dig deep, sista. walk barefoot in your garden when you can. When you are digging in the dirt, breathe in that rich, earthy fragrance. Be a dirty girl, and be proud of being a dirty girl. I know I am.

"And on his left he held a basketfull
Of all sweet herbs that searching eye could cull:
Wild Thyme and valley-lilies whiter still
Than Leda's love, and cresses from the rill.
-John Keats

~Momma