Garden like Grandma

On a recent trip to visit family in Iowa, my 90-year-old mother-in-law commented that she was the only living person left from her high school class of 1953. While it is amazing that she has lived to 90 years old, still vibrant and thriving, working her 10-acre property, mowing, gardening, and even cutting branches with an electric chain saw, she saw it differently. She thought there should be more of her class mates living and wondered why they hadn’t. I asked her what her theory was and this prompted a walk back through history.

Ask any 90+ year old to tell the stories of their life from birth around the 1930’s until now and you will hear about hardships, poverty, illness and wars, but also learn about resourcefulness, community, generosity and triumph. The Great Depression, WWII, the Holocaust, Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War and the Cold War, are events that pressed on the human condition during that time, bringing out goodness and fortitude to endure it all. One of the consistent themes in the center of the chaos was a garden; responding to the need for food. During WWII, President Roosevelt called for everyone to grow a Victory Garden, most families answered the call and were able to contribute. During this difficult time, farmers would keep an eye on the city folks that needed food and supplies helping them make ends meet, while others shared from their garden surplus and kept the community going. 

My mother-in-law was a country girl. She grew up on a farm at the edge of town in Morning Sun, Iowa and describes her mother’s garden as a kitchen garden that was just outside the back door and was the size of half a football field. As a little girl she remembers while her father was busy working the farm, her mother was in charge of planting and tending the kitchen garden. In the spring, her mother would take the horse and plow through the garden beds to break up the rich, loamy soil, fertilized the previous fall by a top layer of chicken manure….and that was it. No chemicals, sprays, or synthetic fertilizers. They used what was readily available on the farm which was plenty of compost and manure and the garden beds flourished producing lots of cabbage, strawberries, asparagus, beans, corn, potatoes, tomatoes and more!

She shared that as a child she wasn’t really interested in helping in the garden but later when growing her own garden, she was glad she did. The garden instinct had been passed on to her and became second nature. For example, she knew what, when and how to plant the seeds, when to lay a protective layer of straw on the strawberries and how to check the asparagus to see if it was ready to harvest. These were all learned by observing her mother every day in the garden. Of course, preserving food was an important part of life as well. Many in the community gathered together to help each other with the task of preparing, canning and fermenting and everyone knew how to do it. These activities were woven into the fabric of their life.

I thought her stories were fascinating however, she still hadn’t presented her theory as to why she had outlived her fellow classmates of 1953. Then she handed me a photo of her with her mother, grandmother and her daughter; four generations of gardeners that continued the tradition of a kitchen garden. That said it all! In her family it was important that each one pass on to the next generation a garden to table lifestyle; gardening and preserving food even when tough times had passed and better times brought in all the conveniences of fast food. She felt her classmates had let that part of life go and along with it a purpose was lost through the generational connection of health and well-being through growing your own food. Her observations might be correct. It has been confirmed through a variety of studies that gardeners live longer, even well past 100, and are less stressed due to the benefits of working in nature and eating healthy organically grown food….so let’s pass it on to the next generation!

This is precisely the knowledge and benefit I pass onto my clients; a garden to table lifestyle. To learn more, contact me at goodenergygarden@gmail.com or visit my website at goodenergygarden.com.