Spring Break for our Montgomery County kids was last week and we had over 500 visitors to Mountainside and the greenhouse. Of all the activities we hosted the harvest session was by far the most popular. Kids love to eat what we are growing and they were excited to take home pepper plants.
My activity was to take kids on a hike and to Notice! With young adults so absorbed by their cell phones our society is becoming oblivious to their surroundings. I had the children notice things like vines growing on a tree, erosion in deep ravine, tree tubes that need to be removed from our riparian buffer and a few deer bones along the way.
Ten days ago I bought a tiller and got started on the garden but Nick has determined that a deep till is necessary and we need Jason Wood to bring out his plow to bust up the soil more than our equipment is capable. It delayed planting but with freezing temps predicted for tonight it is a good thing that we were were forced to wait. April is so unpredictable! It was darn near 80 on Friday, going to hit 70 today and temps are going to fall into the 20's tonight. The standard rule is plant in mid April and despite a mild winter it looks hold true for this year as well so all of those seedlings that are ready to go in the greenhouse will stay there until the end of the week
Mountainside is a bevy of activity right now. We have the concrete guys repairing the basketball court, the building construction finally underway, painting in the pool house and pool rehab with new tiles and coping stones so when my grandson Mason came down to visit pop pop on the tractor he was in hog heaven. Little boys love heavy equipment and with all the activity he was transfixed. He rode with my on the tractor while I was tilling had he has decided that he wants to operate heavy equipment and be a farmer. He even hopped off the tractor periodically to pick rocks off the garden
There is a lot to be said for working outdoors and seeing the impact of your labors change the landscape everyday. Go for it Mason.
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