The meaning of the family garden…

            Every year, for many years now, we have grown a family vegetable garden. Usually the garden is put together by everyone in the family. Everyone puts in equal effort in hope of great and plentiful harvests in the late summer and early fall. For three to four months, we water the garden fervently to fight off drought and pray that when it does rain that it doesn’t flood out the seeds and seedlings that we so carefully place precise distances from each other. A lot of patience and hope is planted into the soil, hoping to be able to eat the fruits of our own labor and even share the surplus with others around us. The plants we plant by hand return to our hands on the dinner table, where we feast as a family, strengthening our family ties.
            This past summer, though was not one of great harvest. The growing season was filled with too much rain with severe dry spells in between storms. Our corn didn’t turn out as large and edible as previous years (the year before we had over 6 dozen good ears, this year we had only 1). We lost most of our peppers, we lost several pumpkin and melon plants, and our potatoes were tiny. But, the growing season did grace us with some very plentiful carrots (one measuring about nine inches in circumference). Carrots grow best in black soil that is extremely quenched, and the rain over the summer made our dry soil more ideal for these root vegetables. We harvested many, though small, onions, which we probably will not completely use. Our pumpkin plant that did survive provided us with over twenty-five beautifully shaped pumpkins that, like the onions, were also small in size. We were also fortunate enough to receive some surprise late growing watermelon that sprung up in the weed-infested garden in the early fall, much after the rest of our watermelon had been picked. The questionable growing season, though not as good as seen in past years, provided us with a great amount of satisfaction in the long run and, as always, proved to be a good deal of entertainment as we watched our seeds grow and change, much like our lives do.

An adventure and a promise…

After having read twice about the famed Michigan pawpaw, I decided that it was time for an expedition out into the mucky black soil on property that belonged to my boyfriend’s family. So upon waking early in the morning, I watched and waited for the right time to embark upon this journey I had so carefully planned. The night previous, while chewing on the stem of a sassafrass leaf, I stumbled upon a curious story that I had never heard before. Apparently my boyfriend of several years had already tasted this fruit coveted by the English 3110 class at WMU. I immediately interrogated him to discover that these mysterious fruit grew only a mile from my house. I knew that I had to hunt them down. The trip was carefully planned, and donned in my cowboy hat, I took off to find the mystery grove of trees. We wandered through trail after trail of trees of every kind. I identified maples, oaks, pines, everything except for the tree I wanted to find (and oddly had no clue what it looked like). We spent well over an hour in the heat of the day trailblazing through the woods, only to have no luck. We shook tree after tree, hoping that by some curious miracle an odd, green, banana-shaped fruit would fall to our feet. No such luck.

                We returned to my house empty handed, only having discovered a trespasser’s arrow lying on the ground. There are fruit somewhere in that dense, adventurous woods, but they evade my eyes. I vowed to find them, especially after being attacked by countless prickly vines. One of these October days I will find them, that sneaky little fruit, the pawpaw.

What I learn in school…

I’ve spent a good deal of time lately reflecting on the class. The readings have been, in so many ways, much more enjoyable than I expected. They are gripping stories that hit really close to home in so many ways. But, the most shockingly lovable aspect of the class (outside of the people in it) has to be the guest speakers. I’ve always imagined guest speakers to be where you just sit and listen to someone talk about what they’ve accomplished, or listen to them explain why they wrote what they did, their motivations and struggles, but instead, the guest speakers we’ve had so far are interactive and incredible. I was completely in love with the fact that instead of just listening to Alison Swan, we were able to connect and have legitimate conversation with her! It was so incredibly fun! Then, with Dave Dempsey, there was more listening involved, but he came fully armed with humor and kept my attention with ease.
                The readings we’ve done in the class so far have really kept me going. I’ve never been the English student who does all of the reading for class, but in this class, with the assigned readings, I’ve found it to be a pleasant and enriching experience to keep up on the readings. I enjoyed the humor of Bill Bryson as he hiked the trail. The readings in Alison Swans book really made me reflect on the lakes that I’ve grown up around. So far, though, my favorite stands as Tom Springer’s book. There is such a deep and meaningful connection that I can draw with his book that I end up feeling like he could be my next-door neighbor. This class and the readings we do within it have really deepened the feelings I already had for nature and the impact it has upon my life.