By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

The other day I was reminded how special and magical my childhood was in the country.

My alarm clock was my neighbor’s roosters, my taste buds were tickled by the smell of the smokehouse and my nightlight was the moon, stars, and lightening bugs.

The science of all these natural wonders was not my concern but instead I only cared about the magic.

As I got older the science tickled my nose with tantalizing knowledge and the magic became less important. I tried to show off my new knowledge that had been reaped from a Ragu commercial that portrayed Italian women picking spaghetti off a tree. Viewing this scene as something truthful and unaware that this might be fantasy I asked my grandfather where his Spaghetti Tree was in his yard.

To my surprise he stared at me and started to laugh. Where did you get the idea that spaghetti grew on a tree he asked. When I told him where I gleamed my knowledge he quickly educated me on the vice of television.

As I got older I heard about those individuals who raised Money Trees. But after my Spaghetti Tree mishap I quickly became cynical about the truth of the Money Tree. The magic of nature was gone forever I thought.

When my daughter was about 4 years old I had the greatest opportunity to revisit the magic again. My child had been in the backyard and stepped on a spiny ball. As curiosity and pain sometimes go together she picked up 1 of these balls and related it to one of her loves that is animals. As she headed up the yard she quickly told my dad that the Porcupine Tree had bit her.

Oh how that took me back. I felt like Peter Pan revisiting Never Never Land with Wendy. Years flew by before the true nature was revealed. My daughter’s beloved Porcupine Tree was merely a Chestnut tree but for her the truth really did not matter. The relationship between my father and his granddaughter would always center on that magic moment when they both became acquainted with the magical Porcupine Tree.

Today television and the Internet can steal those magical moments. It seems that the magic growing around us is overlooked. But gardening with children is so important not only to bring back the wonder of nature but for our health. Gardening provides exercise and exposes us to the soil, which helps build up our immune system while teaching children healthy eating habits. Every one knows that what you personally pick always tastes better. But how does one get children back into the garden. Try bringing the magic and wonder back into their lives with this simple trick.

Cucumber in a Bottle

Supplies

• Cucumber plants
• 2-liter bottle

Steps

1. Look over your cucumber plants and find a small cucumber that has formed.
2. Gently place immature cucumber through the neck of the 2-liter bottle.
3. Grow cucumber in bottle until cucumber cannot come through the neck of the bottle. Once this has happened pick and watch the magic begin.

This simple experiment was a hit with my children when they were growing up. They would bring their friends to the garden to explore the magic of the cucumber in the bottle. Even today my kids who are 19 years old will ask if we can do the cucumber in the bottle and before one thinks this is silly think about all the adults that wonder how the apricot gets in the bottle of brandy to form that delicacies drink call Apricot Brandy.

Magic and wonder is something that we all should have in our lives. So bring the kids back into the garden whether it is in the ground on in a container. Let their natural curiosity guide you into the world of garden fairies, gnomes, and lighting bugs while enjoying the fruits of everyone’s labor. But most of all enrich your childrens’ lives as much as you enrich your soil. Every gardener knows that sometimes the soil needs a lot of amending depending on age while other times it just needs a little tending too. So this gardening year invite a young person to the garden and help cultivate the magic of the first tomato or pepper. The bounty you will receive will fill more than your stomach but also your heart when a young person learns the magic of successful gardening.

But before the skeptics voice their opinion keep in mind that where there is a will there is a way. Teaching where food comes from and how to care for it does not take a lot of space or time. When my children were young we converted their old wade pool into their own garden of their favorite vegetables. Nothing beat the sight of my children wading in their vegetables with tomato juice running off their chin nor the pride that they showed for their own plot of “land.” Everyone that came over had to be shown the garden and at least try something fresh from it.

Every year since then we have gardened together through years of drought, bounty, and the need to be self-sufficient. We have gardened through job loses, deaths, and personal turmoil while keeping the magic going. So before you say you cannot think about that dandelion breaking through the crack in the sidewalk without first wanting to kill it with an herbicide think about the determination and magic it took to do the impossible and apply it to the garden. Bring everyone back to our roots and let the magic follow who knows what new magic you and your family will find in your own definition of a garden.

So drop me a line about your own cucumber in a bottles experience or just your family’s experience in gardening. And until next time don’t fret if your green thumb is brown and your frown is upside down, your garden will find time to turn it around. Tomatoes and peppers abound from everywhere to be found. So cheer up and smile and look down because before you know it your brown thumb will be green with all the magic it found.

From The Old Farmer's Almanac.