One of the many things I do, and love, is I’m an assistant leader for a Cub Scout den. So the overall group of scouts is called a pack, and then they are subdivided into dens; Tigers, Wolves, Bears, and Weeblos. Our den became very large, so we divided down into Den 1 and Den 2. I help run Den 1. My eldest son and three other boys make up the den.
One of the things I genuinely love about our den is that each boy presents their own difficulties. My son has ADHD. He’s sweet, but very, very impulsive. We have one that is a maybe raised a little further on the side of defiant than I’d like to see, one with a few anger and attention issues, and one with a mix of all of the above. But the thing about them is, they all have heart. They are all very much sweet little boys. I know people would disagree, but there are boys out there that are just plain mean and I can’t handle that. I don’t know if it’s character or if it’s how they are raised, but I have met little children that seem deep down just evil. These boys aren’t. They are sweet, handsome kids that want to be their best.
So while some people may not take things like Scouting to heart, the Den Leader and I really do. It’s as though we have a job, and the paycheck is watching our kids improve, and knowing that we are giving them every chance at greatness that we possibly can. As parents we all have something to learn from each other, and our children learn from each other as well. It’s an excellent dynamic.
Okay, so I’m rambling… anyhow, if you can’t already tell, I love gardening. I’m only just learning, but I really adore it. There is just something about doing all the work, getting your hands in Mother Earth, taking pride in a little something, and feeling a little bit back to nature.
Of the four boys in our den, three were in the same kindergarten class. This class used to go every week to the local assisted living home to read to the residents. Remember I said these kids have heart? They had started to talk about how they missed the residents they used to read to. My son stated that there was something they could still do for these lovely people they’d gotten to know. And suddenly it hit me… how about we grow flowers for them? We could hand make arrangements. I could easily get vases and stuff to put flowers in at the thrift shop. I also have a ton of left over seeds I was happy to donate to the boys if they wanted to.
That last thought pushed me a touch further. I also have a huge selection of veggie and fruit seeds. When the den split, Den 1 chose to start our meetings an hour earlier, and we rotate meal responsibility or will pot luck, and we all sit around for the first hour getting settled down, enjoy a meal together, let the boys practice telling their stories of the week and taking their turns talking. I realized that we could grow things to eat, and help the boys harvest their hard work and create meals around the produce they grow.
As I thought even further, I realized there was just so much they could get out of this. They have now an outdoor summer activity. They get to take it, start to finish, seeds to table. They carry reasonable responsibility over it. They get to make choices, and they get to give back. Oh, yeah, there is that part about giving back… they will donate extra produce to the local food banks. That’s right, we have that too.
Here is where it gets really exciting. It would seem the biggest challenge I had was to find a location for this garden. I have plenty of room at my place, but nothing in the sunlight that wouldn’t already be in use. There were several options, but none were quite perfect for the boys. I remembered that there is a community garden, though. So I went on a mission. Sounds like hard work… yeah, I sent an e-mail. The very nice lady who runs the garden tells me that the plots are all taken and there is a long waiting list. And then this whole idea took on a life of its own. Two of the larger plots are run specifically for the food banks. The lovely lady forwarded my e-mail on to the lady who runs those plots. She contacted me and told me they’d love our help. It wouldn’t be growing their own, but it would be work, responsibility, outdoor time, and giving back to the community. It was a great second place. I ran it through the pack, who loved the idea.
But then, yesterday morning I got an e-mail from the main garden lady, who says they’ve had a garden committee meeting over the weekend, and the committee and the city were so thrilled at the idea of helping out the boys, and so impressed that even though we didn’t get what we were looking for, but were still willing to help out, that they donated to us a flower bed that is about 30x3 feet as our very own scout garden. I met with her yesterday to get the keys to the tools and the run down on how everything works.
We didn’t even ask. We were happy to sit on the waiting list. But they really wanted to do something nice for the boys. This plot is now big enough that the entire pack can join in and grow whatever they want. There is a lot of work; the bed needs to be cleaned up and prepped for a real garden. I think we’re up to it. And we’re still helping the food bank plots, and a monthly work party. How great is my town?! They even provide tools, compost, mulch, Sluggo, they are providing for us some plastic weed barrier, and even digging the trench to put it in. Heck, if somehow we had a lack of seeds, there’s even some in a drawer to get us started! There are several gardeners, including a good amount of master gardeners, that are able and willing to help us out… it’s perfect! Let the adventure begin….
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