Somebody said ...............

It is truly official.

The first plant has been put in the garden.  The first seeds of the season  have been sown.

We are celebrating the 10th anniversary of Miss Effie's.

When we started the farm .... they laughed.  They said that no one would drive down a gravel road to buy flowers.

Scared ... Uncertain ... Insecure ... I almost believed them.

I almost gave up.

But I dug in the dirt by hand ........ as  I still do.  I need that dirt under my nails.  I need to feel the life in the soil.  So the weeds ... are pulled by hand.  And each little plug of potential prettiness .... is gently put into place.

At the end of the day, my jeans are dirty.  My nose is its summer shade of bright red.  But my soul sings with a happiness that I had never known possible.

We started the farm with $1000 from the savings account.  And every year, I hope to put it back.  And every year .... I don't.

But we keep growing .... more and more gardens share their blossoms with those that come.  More people enjoy a summer day on an old swing or share their lunch in the corn crib.

I have seen customers grow up before my eyes.  I have lost some precious friends.  It is the circle of life ... the lessons of the soil.

I hear the words of my grandfather's favorite poet, Edgar A Guest, echo through garden.

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
     But, he with a chuckle replied
That "maybe it couldn’t," but he would be one
     Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
     On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
     That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you’ll never do that;
     At least no one has done it";
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
     And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
     Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
     That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
     There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
     The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle it in with a bit of a grin,
     Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing

That "couldn’t be done," and you’ll do it.

I have a richness of life that I never imagined before.

I have re-connected with wonderful friends that I have known since grade school.  And laughed with sisters that I have known since college.  And embraced some new friends ... that fill my life with joy, giggles and fiber.

So ... we celebrate 10 years of growing flowers.  

I am now closer to 60 ........they ask when I will quit.  Doesn't your back ache?  Don't your knees creak? 

And I laugh ... and say yes.  It is an ache of hard work and happiness.  An ache that I celebrate and rejoice in.

I  will do this every day for the rest of my life ..... because it can be done.