A Funny Thing Happened in the Garden

A love and natural curiosity for the garden seems to come quite natural to little Miss K. From her first strolls through the rows (in my arms) to her current independent explorations she has shown a tenderness for plants and a deep love for dirt under her nails. Of course, I am proud... very proud.

As winter approached the kumquats ripened to a beautiful color, releasing fragrant citrus any time you touched them. Miss K, of course, was fascinated by them and quickly learned to pluck them from the tree and eat them- juice dripping down her chin and wrist- right there in the garden. Being the naturalist I am, I could be found plopped right down beside her doing the exact same thing. Ben, the puppy, waited nearby to give us a good bath.

During one of Miss K and I's garden snack adventures a funny thing happened. A realization hit me. I had taught Miss K to pick little round fruits off a tree. It was coming time to put up our Christmas tree. Decorations on that tree would be little round balls. Miss K was going to be harvesting ornaments from the tree in the house! Horror became shock which led to laughter and finally a bit of hysteria that poor Miss K, though perplexed, ignored. She simply was eating her kimquats.

Needless to say, this funny realizaton did have an effect on our decoratons. No round objects were found on the tree. Instead pinecones and lights were surrounded by little wooden farm animals which Miss K found little interest in- after all, she has real farm animals to interact with.

The kumquats tree is bare. It's fruit picked and enjoyed (some of which became marmalade). Cold weather has driven Miss K and I out of that particular garden. These days we can be found plodding around the greenhouse where fresh herbs await warmer days and baby seedlings struggle to stay warm enough. Who knows what hilarity we may find there!