MORE GARDENING FOR A CHANGE


It's funny how once you start on a small project it can burgeon, with momentum carrying you forward. More on gardening, and how it changes things.


It's funny how once you start on a small project it can burgeon, with momentum carrying you forward.

Saturday I planted impatiens in the backyard of my apartment building with the help of two neighbor children, "R" and "T". (I'm not sure exactly how to spell "T"'s name...I'll have to ask her again!)

That was going to be the full extent of my gardening efforts. After all, I do deal constantly with chronic pain and fatigue, and it's a challenge to do even a small project like that. But the children's obvious excitement over what we had accomplished together led me to decide I should also beautify the north side of the building as well. (The north side used to have very tall shrubs, but my landlady had them cut down completely when it was discovered that drug dealers were using them to hide their transactions. That left a pretty ugly bare spot. But it also created room for a flower bed, of one were so inclined. I have become so inclined.)

So yesterday afternoon I started preparing the soil...and sure enough, eventually the kids saw me and came over wanting to help.

I guess I should tell the story about how I came to know the two of them.

I'm not sure how long their family had been in the neighborhood before "R" spoke to me. Several of their extended family have occupied their building for quite some time now. It is very common for Hispanic families like theirs to group together whenever possible.

Anyway, last September I ended up going in an ambulance to the hospital with concerns that I could be having a heart attack. (As it turned out, evidenced by my angiogram, my arteries are "beautiful," but I have what's known as a coronary artery spasm, a.k.a. Prinzmetal's angina -- a bit less serious than clogged arteries, and treatable with medication.)

A few days later I was getting out of my car, probably returning from grocery shopping, and "R" came over to ask, "Are you going to be all right?" Apparently he saw me getting into the ambulance and was concerned about me.

Since then "R" has helped me with minor things like carrying groceries up to my apartment, and occasional major things, like shoveling the snow off the front walk when it was about four feet deep. I paid him for the shoveling, but other things I have rewarded mostly with a simple thank-you. He does not expect to be paid for his help, though I am sure he could use the money. Although I could spare a dollar or two for his occasional good deeds, I want to see him continue to do them without expectation of pay. Children should not grow up thinking that kindness toward others should come from the heart, rather than from a desire to make money.

I had completed most of the work yesterday when the kids came over. Still, they wanted to do some of the hoeing and raking. I was amazed at this. When I was a kid the last thing in the world I wanted to do was help my parents with yard work. Yet "R" and "T" seemed happy to do it, even though I hadn't asked them.

Then it occurred to me -- these kids live in an apartment, and unlike my building, they have no yard to speak of where they can play. And the nearest playground is way over at Chester Dewey School No. 14, on the corner of University and Scio Streets. That playground is pitiful -- barely more than a large yard with a few pieces of playground equipment. Even worse, it is not a place a parent could comfortably send children unaccompanied by adults -- not even older children.

So for "R" and "T", hoeing my flower bed was a heck of a lot more fun than just sitting around.

Now, if I had it in me health and energy-wise, I would do some community organizing to see if we couldn't turn the empty plot of land down on Union and Main (a block from my building) into a community garden. I'd be willing to bet there are a whole lot more people in the neighborhood (kids and adults alike) who would find gardening a pleasurable way to spend their summers.

While I was working on that little plot at the side of the building, of course many people from the neighborhood saw me...and congratulated me. See, when I create this beauty for myself, I am also creating it for all the rest of the neighborhood to enjoy. And it gives us something to talk about.

Maybe, just maybe, others will be inspired by it. Even if it's just one little flower pot on the stoop. We shall see.

Posted: Wed - June 15, 2005 at 10:18 AM          

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