Planting seeds......of friendship, peace, and learning

I told this story to a dear friend (and avid Blog follower) immediately after it occurred.  She told me, in no uncertain terms, that I better Blog it.  This is the first opportunity that I've had to do so.  I hope all of you enjoy the story as much as I enjoyed being a part of it.

A few days ago, I was home doing schoolwork when I heard a knock at the door.  The kids who live next door were knocking to ask if my dog could come out to play!  A strange request, I'll admit, but one that I agreed to accomodate.  Living in a row home often causes unusual relationships to develop....both good and bad!

The kids who were interested in playing with the dog range in age from about 4 to 12.  There are three boys and two girls.  That group does not include the adorable toddler who also became involved but who did not initially involve herself in requesting playtime with the dog.  The four year old boy, Michael, has begun to have a very special place in my heart.  He is energetic, exuberant, defiant, tough, and the older ones tend to pick on him.  He cries easily at physical and emotional injuries, both real and imagined.  He also has an incredible ability to get himself into trouble.  Not big trouble, just the low-grade, annoying trouble that contributes to people picking on him! 

I let the dog take his Frisbee out to play with the kids.  I'm not sure why the dog was not his normal, playful self that day.  Maybe there were too many kids.  Maybe he felt that they were being too aggressive.  Who knows what goes on in that dog's head?  The ultimate result of him not quite being himself was that he went out of his way to keep his Frisbee away from the kids who just wanted to throw it so he could catch it!  The older boys began to turn the dog's reticence to share his Frisbee into an awesome game of tug with the dog.  Michael simply couldn't keep up.  He wasn't physically strong enough to get into the pack and get his hands on the Frisbee.  The few times that he managed to do so, the dog easily pulled the Frisbee out his hands. 

Michael decided that he should find another way to occupy himself.  BAD PLAN! As with most four year old boys who are forced to occupy themselves, he did not make the best choices.  He went into the neighbor's yard, on the other side of my house, and began to play with a  potted plant that she was planning to transplant into the garden.  Luckily, I noticed his preoccupation with the plant before anyone else did.  What I noticed, though, was that Michael wasn't being destructive.  He was clearly interested in the plant, not just in digging in the dirt surrounding it.

Michael seems to appreciate the skill that comes with age that enables someone to talk to a child instead of yelling at them.  Michael gets yelled at A LOT!  Therefore, when I speak to him, I try to be gentle or funny or encouraging.  Michael responds to that beautifully.  His defiance just melts away.  I called to him and asked if he'd like to see the plants I was growing.  He immediately lost interest in the neighbor's plant and came over to the steps.

A few weeks ago, Kyra and I had planted an herb kit.  We had sage, thyme, and basil planted in pretty sage-colored ceramic pots with a matching tray to hold them.  We had also started a little plastic container of strawberry seeds, covered with plastic wrap,  for future transplant into a hanging basket.  I went in and gathered all of these and brought them out front to share with Michael.  Michael and I sat on the step and I let him smell the different herbs.  It was only a matter of seconds before the other kids lost interest in the dog and came over to talk about the plants.

It ended up being a magical 15 minutes.  The kids were interested and involved.  They asked a million questions; some of which I could answer, others I couldn't. Even the toddler came over to get involved.  She made the greatest faces when she was smelling the herbs!  Apparently she likes the smell of basil and despises the smell of sage.

One of the younger girls asked why I had plastic wrap over the strawberry seeds.  I responded by saying that it acted as a terrarium.  What was I thinking?  The next logical question came almost immediately, "What's a terrarium?"  The explanation I gave was that it was a closed container that acted like a little version of the world's weather.  Then we had to talk about precipitation and evaporation and condensation.  It was nothing short of amazing.  You could watch these kids' neurons firing as they thought about what we were discussing.  After watching their excitement, I asked if they would be interested in planting some seeds and growing our own plants.  The idea was received with wild enthusiasm!

I told them that I had to go run some errands and that I'd pick up the supplies while I was at the store.  I swear, it felt as if were under the questioning of the members of the Inquisition.  "Are you going now?" "When will you be back?" "Can we do it today?"  "Do you promise to come right back?"  "How long will you take?"  I answered the rapid fire questions of the mob of miniatures as quickly and convincingly as I could and left to run my errands after putting the dog in the house.  There was some brief discussion about them watching the dog while I was gone but I quashed that idea quite rapidly!

I stopped at Home Depot in my travels.  I picked up seeds for violas, sunflowers, and rosemary.  I also grabbed a spearmint plant, with the thought that the kids might be able to be more patient about the seeds germinating if they actually had one plant they could already see.  The only plastic pots I could afford were the color of adobe pots.  I decided that was not exciting enough for my little amateur gardeners.  I stopped at Target and got kids' paint and brushes so they could decorate their pots.  I also found a cheap plastic watering pot.

Upon my return, I was mobbed at my car door.  The little girl, not the toddler, started screaming, "She's back! She's back!"  I couldn't believe the enthusiasm had lasted till I returned.  We set newspaper up and I watched five kids, who fight all the time, sit down and work together to arrange the papers and the paints and get their pots painted.  It was a good thing that I bought the watering can!  We only had four pots to paint and five kids.  I think I might have averted a serious incident!  Michael chose to paint the watering can.  He smeared piles of paint in the same small area.  After he got done, he said, "Will you wash this now?"  I said, "Don't you like it?  It's very colorful!" ( I must admit that it actually wasn't very colorful.  The huge amount of mulit-colored paint had created a glob of brownish....well, anyway....)He said, "I want to paint it again!" I did manage to convince him that he should leave it just as it was.  I think the excitement of being able to actually plant seeds did a great deal to help with convincing him.

The atmosphere of camaraderie that had prevailed during "art" time ended rapidly when planting time began and each kid didn't have their own activity.  There was no way that they were ready to do the planting on their own.  I had terrifying visions of a patio filled with potting soil and all the seeds in one pot.  So, it was time to find a way to get them to work as a team to avoid having this become a blood sport.  We managed to keep things relatively calm.  Michael was the only one who was truly having issues with sharing and working together.  As he forced his way into the center of each part of the activity (and, tried to eat one of the sunflower seeds) I kept trying to think of a kind way to get him under control.  I finally said, "Michael, gardeners are gentle".  This seemed to help.  He became a little less boisterous; a little less "bull in a china shop".  I also did manage to convince him not to eat anymore seeds!

I had the middle boy, Adrian, read the directions for the sunflowers.  We talked about what germination is.  We talked about what an "annual" is.  We talked about how much water to give the plants.  We determined that I would leave the watering pot next to the step so that they could water the plants if I were "too busy" or if were to "forget".  Their interest in every aspect of the planting was just phenomenal.  We got the sunflowers planted then it started to get dark.  I suggested that we save the rest for the following day.  I was AMAZED!  Everyone was agreeable even though they were clearly still excited. 

While I was cleaning up, there were some questions about the "real plant".  That was, of course, a reference to the spearmint plant.  When I told them it was spearmint, none of the kids knew what I was talking about.  So, I gave them all a chance to smell it.  I told them it was the plant that was used to flavor spearmint gum and candy.  I saw five sets of blank eyes staring at me.  How could these kids not know about spearmint???  The toddler came rushing over to smell the spearmint plant.  Apparently, she is very fragrance oriented.  What great faces I got when she smelled that.  I think she still prefers the smell of basil, but spearmint was right up there.  I love the way she crinkles her nose and breathes as hard out her nose as she breathes in it to smell.  What an adorable little lady!  We finished our conversation and smelling of spearmint and I headed in for the night.

The dog wanted to go out around 10 the next morning for his second potty break.  I  opened the door to see the kids standing around staring at my door!  Michael said, "Can we play now?"  I was right in the middle of my school work but how could I possibly say no to those big brown eyes and the expectant faces that had patiently waited for me to come out?  So, I told them that I had to go to the store but that the minute I came back we'd finish.  I took the dog for his almost daily car ride to the store with me.  While I was checking out I noticed the little round containers of mints.  I found one that was spearmint and bought it. 

When I got back, the kids were all as enthusiastic as they had been the day before.  We planted the violas first.  Adrian was in charge of reading the directions again.  By the way, Michael had ABSOLUTELY no interest in this part of the project.  He just kept interrupting and asking, "Can we play yet?"  The violas were perennials.  We talked about what a perennial is.  The oldest girl remembered that the sunflowers were annuals.  She remembered the word!  It was awesome.  Adrian remembered that the sunflowers would germinate in 7 - 14 days after he read that the violas would germinate in 10 - 15 days.  I put him in charge of remembering all the germination times for our new plants.  After we planted the violas, Michael insisted that he was in charge of watering.  He got a bit pushy with everyone else.  I reminded him that "gardeners were gentle" and he actually calmed down a bit again.

After the violas, it was time for the rosemary.  Adrian informed us that the germination time was 15 - 24 days.  He then reminded us that the germination time for the sunflowers was 7 - 14 days and the germination time for the violas was 10 - 15 days.  He beamed with such obvious pride at remembering all of them correctly.  It was a great moment for Adrian....and for me!  While we were transplanting the spearmint plant, the container of mints fell out of my pocket.  The youngest girl picked them up and handed them to me.  I was afraid that my surprise had been ruined but, since she doesn't know how to read yet, it seems that I lucked out.  I put them in my pocket quickly before anyone else noticed them

After the rosemary seeds were planted, it was time to transplant the spearmint plant to a bigger pot.  Adrian knew that the part of the plant in the dirt was called the root.  He beamed again at his own brilliance.  Michael was getting rammier by the minute.  I guess planting three separate things is a bit much for a four year old.  I did let him head up the watering of the plants but the youngest girl wanted her turn also.  He saw absolutley no reason to willingly give up the watering pot to her.   I reminded him again that "gardeners are gentle".  He "did the right thing" and let her have a turn watering the spearmint, although his heart wasn't in it.

We cleaned up the little bit of dirt that spilled and placed our plants in the best spots according to the directions, again read by Adrian, based on their need for full sun or partial shade.  When we finished, only Adrian was still outside.  The others had disappeared.  I took out the container of mints and showed Adrian that they were "spearmint" mints.  I also told him that there were natural and artificial flavors.  We talked about that for a bit too.  He took a mint and seemed to have a whole new respect for our little spearmint plant. 

The door next door burst open and the other kids streamed back out.  It's almost as if kids have a sixth sense for when their peers are getting something they aren't!  Well, I had planned to give all of them mints so that was fine.  Adrian helped me to tell them about the mints being made of spearmint that came from the kind of plant that we were growing.  Michael was having none of it.  He just wanted to get his hands on those mints.  He was pushing and rushing and generally being obnoxious.  I looked at him and shook my head and made my "I'm disappointed in you" face.  He looked up at me and said, "Gardeners are gentle".  Could there be a better end to such a great project?