Grandkids and gardening

Since we were keeping the three grandkids from Garnett last week, we had an exercise in gardening, where they helped harvest the remaining onions and the potatoes.

The 3-year-old grandson was excited as we dug the potatoes and the onions from the plot. He saw the dirt being turned over with the shovel and came up to me and said, "I want to dig a hole."

I gladly gave him the shovel, and he attacked digging a hole with a lot of enthusiasm and little technique. It was one of those teachable moments, and he was ready to learn something. I demonstrated how to put the tip of the shovel in the ground and stand on the back of the shovel, using his weight to push it into the ground, and then pull back on the handle as the earth came up.

The back of the handle usually hit him at some time in the process, but he stayed excited about turning the earth.

So, for the better part of a morning on one of those 100-degree days, we continued to dig holes in the garden. Then we moved on to how to back up from an original hole and break up any clods.

I felt somewhat guilty harnessing all that energy of a 3-year-old, but he continued to make progress in the garden and, if he comes to visit enough, I may not have to have it plowed this fall. One other benefit with this exercise was that after a morning creating holes, he was more than ready to take a nap.