Gardening 101

With spring here I LOVE to spend my time out in the yard. This weekend was no exception. We got the bunny fence put up to protect our lettuce and beets. We chopped down a tree with pine wilt. We bought an edger and edged the driveway. I trimmed the front Ewes and blew the leaves out of the rocks. I am sure there was more I have forgotten. Anyway, Vern enjoys this probably the best of the 3 kids. He wants to learn how to mow!

Step one of leaning how to mow is safety followed by maintenance. So the other night he helped do spring maintenance on the rider. We cleaned the air filter and changed the oil. We have to sharpen blades and change spark plugs yet but that is another day. He was very interested in this and paid attention.

Vern also enjoys gardening. He loves his sunflowers that grow HUGE. He has helped me plant in the past and I am sure he will again this year. In honor of spring and gardening Vern did another short survey for me :-)  Enjoy.

1. What kinds of things do you grow in your garden?
Answer: Vegetables and I guess fruits and flowers too.

2.  Where do you garden the most?
Answer:  Home

3.  Do you garden with your parents or a teacher?
Answer: Parents

4.  Do you like to spend time gardening with your parents, teacher, or friends?
Answer: NO (this makes it sound like its aweful...)

5.  How many other children garden with you in your garden?
Answer: Zero

6.  Do you share the fruits, vegetables, and flowers that you grow with other people?
Answer: Yes

7. Gardening can sometimes make you feel better about yourself in many different ways.  Tell us which of the things listed are important ways in which gardening has helped you. (I am only listing the ones Vern chose.)
Answer: Growing fruits and vegetables for food
              Learning about plants
              Making my home better with plants and flowers
              Exercising outside

8.  Do you think that you've learned about natrue and the environment through gardening?
Answer: Yes

9.  What kind of things have you learned about the garden that you can remember?
Answer: Don't plant a bunch of seeds in a clump. You must plant in a row.
              Don't step or pee on the flowers. (You just knew Vern would slip in something like this in a survey. I forgot all about it until I was typing this and it made me laugh all over again.)

10.  Do you live in the city or in the country?
Answer: Country

11. How old are you?
Answer:  9-12 years old

12. In your own words, what is the best thing about your garden?
Answer:  Food. My sunflowers I have in the garden. They are big and I like them and they are cool! Like 7 foot tall!!!!

Survey says!

I thought it was time we delve into the serious mind of Vern. I asked him some thought provoking questions from a Hightlights survey and here they are with a little commentary to compare to the real survey.

Question #1 - What is your biggest problem right now?
Answer - (given without ANY hesitation) Ann - his sister

Tidbit: This was #2 on how the other kids also responded.  #1 on the article was school work and we ALL know how well Vern does with school work.

Question #2 - Other than members of your own family, who is a person you admire and respect?
Answer - GOD

Tidbit: God did make the list for the survey but right above nobody. That makes me a little sad. Friends were on the top of the survey of all kids participating.

Question #3 - Do you have chores that you must do at your home?
Answer - Yes.

Tidbit: Kids aged 9-12 75% had chores.

Question #4 - If you had an extra hour in your day, what would you do with it?
Answer - Play football!

Tidbit: Play was first on the list of respondents with sports being 4th.

Question #5 - If you had five minutes to talk to our President, what would you tell him?
Answer - Can I play in your bowling alley with your? How about we go swimming?

Tidbit: While the question was aimed at more global issues, many kids responded to the question with more personal concerns. Children's concerns about the problems in their lives and families were a stong theme.   I guess Vern's response would fall into their category of questions about daughters, family, dog.

Question #6 - Do you get to spend enought time with your parents?
Answer - Yes

Tidbit: 71.1% of kids said yes.

Question #7 - What should grown-ups know about being a kid today?
Answer -  That parents should leave you alone and give you ALLLLL the video games we want!

Tidbit: At this point in the survey, I think a show was interesting him on the tv.  The survey's top response was being a kid is hard. Technology did make the list at around 3-4% of the respondents.

Question #8 - Do you think its harder to be a kid today than it was for your parents?
Answer - No, well maybe. (But no reason.)

Tidbit:  Even as our world inevitably changes, the experience of childhood remains remarkably the same. "State of the Kid - Highlights Magazine"