The Land of Ozz

Hi! My name is Robin McGee. I live in Upstate South Carolina with my husband, youngest child, a dog, a herd of cattle, chickens, goats, donkeys, cats…you get the idea. I’m 44 years old, and I have 3 children and 4 grandchildren. I am a Certified Family Herbalist, and I make my own medicine from plants…mostly whatever is growing wild here on the farm, along with a few friends I’ve planted.

I grew up loving to garden and loving nature. I remember “helping” my Granny to plant beans when I was 3 years old. She always kept a meticulous garden. She would get the soil ready, mark off rows with her hoe then dig the little holes where the seeds would go. After all the holes were dug she’d go down the row and drop a few seeds in each hole, not covering them until every hole cradled seeds. Observing this I decided (remember I was 3) that I would give Granny a hand. Without her realizing it I followed her down the row and covered the beans as she moved along. When she got to the end of the row she turned around to begin covering her seeds, but there were no seeds to be covered. I had already covered them. I was so proud! Now Granny wouldn’t have to spend her time going up that row one more time. She could move on to the next row and dig little holes to plant something else! Granny didn’t see my wonderful accomplishment as helpful. She began to yell, “Whadju do with my seeds? How’m I spose to know whar they at?” as she started toward me. Now, I had had my share of what that little 90-pound wildcat could do with a hickory switch, and I wasn’t wasting any time getting away from her. I ran as fast as my little legs would carry me to get as far away from that frantic woman as I could! I tried to explain that I was helping, but she just kept yelling. Finally, she turned away from me and went back to gardening, muttering to herself. Later on, my Papa got a good laugh when Granny told him how “helpful” I had been that day.

Looking back, I understand why Granny got so upset with me. I don’t think it was me covering her seeds that frustrated her. I believe she was more upset that she didn’t get to do it herself.

Now that I have my own grandchildren I want to pass along to them our family tradition of gardening and my love and respect for nature. As soon as Riley, my first grandchild, was born I began to introduce her to the outside world. I would tell her the names of flowers and birds, or hold a rose near her face so she could breathe in its sweet perfume. When she was around 3 years old I let her help me plant seeds and flowers. Now when she comes to visit Grandma we pick violets to make syrup and tincture, or blueberries for a snack, or we take a walk to visit the “weeds” that will be used for medicine. And she loves to help her mother in her garden, using the tools Grandma gave her to fit her little hands.

I think it’s working!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 30th, 2006 at 7:30 am and is filed under Family, Nature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.