When I was a child, the garden was one of my favorite places to be on a hot summer day. There was a large steel tank that served as a pool...just the right depth for two little girls to swim in. After splashing around and creating whirlpools until we were dizzy, my sister and I would grab our beach towels and head to the garden to dry in the sun. I would lay my towel out on the gravel path that ran along the tomato bed, reach through the heavy green leaves and pluck the biggest, reddest tomato that I could find, then stretch out to bask in the sun. I would nibble slowly, often trying to peel the skin away with my teeth before taking a huge bite.
To this day, I can close my eyes and bring back every part of those moments in the garden...the smell of sunshine on the tomato vines, the tang of tomato juice on my lips, the slightly dulled edges of the gravel pushing into my back through the towel and the feel of my hair slowly drying in the heat.

We had friends over for dinner last night. Before dinner, we walked around the farm and garden with them, delighting in watching their three-year old son, T, experience the joy of growing things. With a wicker basket bumping his little knees, he ventured fearlessly into the chicken coop to collect eggs, then off into the garden in search of tomatoes and peppers. When his dad dug up some of the potatoes, T happily ran up to take them, putting them in his  increasingly heavy basket, while proudly proclaiming how "tough" he was to be able to carry so much.

Some people would say that laying in a sun-drenched tomato patch did not "teach" me anything. But I would disagree. Children are naturally curious and go through the world with such joy and enthusiasm. Anything and everything is wondrous to them. T was out there asking questions about goat's milk and why the green grapes were sour. And maybe the answers to these questions are not life altering, but the fact that his parents take the time to answer all those questions and let him run around in the garden finding new things to ask about...that is life altering. And maybe eating tomatoes in the garden did not teach me arithmetic or spelling...but it gave me an appreciation and a joy for the little things. And what better way to teach a child about kindness and gentleness than to raise them around animals? What better way to learn respect for your surroundings than to see firsthand how the ground produces the food that you eat?

Maybe I won't have the time, space or money to create a farm and garden as large and rich as my mother's is, but I am determined that my children will grow up knowing the joys of a summer garden.