All Things Garden

Holding her first worm.

I grew up with my mom constantly trying to instill a love of all things “garden” in me.  I am sure it is because of this that I have absolutely no problem with getting my hands in the dirt.  I can pull anything, deal with any bug, and it doesn’t phase me.  I have been a little concerned that my daughter, the princess, might have a more difficult time than I. 

Today I was taking the opportunity given by recent rains to pull weeds out of soft soil.  Tessie was very interested in what I was doing and hovered at my shoulder the entire time.  As I pulled a clump of grass from our flagstone walkway a worm wriggled out of the roots and fell into the dirt.  I quickly called Tes over to see it, not sure what her reaction would be. 

Tessie examined the worm, and to my heart’s delight,

Feeding the worm leaves.

promptly asked me if she could hold it.  I placed it in her hand, warning her to be gentle, and watched as she observed this new creature.  After a while she decided he was hungry and tried to feed him a leaf, completely ignoring my comments that worms don’t really eat willow leaves.  She placed him carefully back in the dirt and said goodbye, explaining to me that he was going back to his home. 

We found several more worms and one rolly-polly.  Tessie held each of them, talking to them the whole time.  I was delighted that my little girl, who doesn’t leave the house without a proper princess dress, was perfectly happy with a slimy worm crawling around in her palm.  Her interaction with the “garden world” was beautiful and, I hope, not a one time occurrence.