Recycling: Bountiful Blueberries and Stolen Strawberries

Jul 282011
 

This is a repeat of a favorite attitude adjustment post.  I hope you enjoy it.

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My garden never fails me.

For the past couple of weeks, my output at work seems to consist only of bumps, detours, technical failures, a growing to-do pile and a number of opportunities to really embarrass myself. (You may have noticed the lack of blog posts…. or the unfinished ones that I must of scheduled to ‘publish’ instead of ‘save.’) You get the point: not at my best.

I don’t believe in writer’s block but I really don’t like to write when I’m out of sorts. I owe you better. So I gave up and went out to my garden.

I was rewarded with a colander full of luscious, thumb-nail sized blueberries, still warm from the sun. There are so many that the branches are bent.

As I picked off and discarded the dozens that the birds had nibbled, I smiled, thinking back on last month’s “strawberry wars.” Our strawberry bed is just a year old. Per instructions from the landscaping expert, three dozen tender plants were protected with ‘cages’ and surrounded by mulch and covered with a fine mesh net. Strong-smelling soap and moth balls completed the barricade.

Want to guess how many strawberries I harvested? If I said “10” I would be exaggerating. Not ten boxes — ten berries. The chipmunks and the red squirrels got the rest.

A garden or a farm can teach kids all sorts of wonderful things: teamwork, discipline, hard work… There’s the satisfaction that comes when they (literally) harvest the fruits of their labor… and, of course, giving.

Generally, when I think about using the garden to teach our kids to give, I think in terms of sharing the harvest with family, friends and neighbors. The “bountiful blueberries and the stolen strawberries” provided me with another thought, one that will solve my strawberry problem.

I’m going to plant more strawberries — and let the critters have them. That’s right: add more plants and subtract the cages, mesh and other deterrents. Let ’em eat their fill. Don’t worry about protecting the berries. Give up. Give ’em away.

If this approach works in the garden like it does everywhere else in life we’ll have more berries than we can handle. And,if not, it won’t matter — I’ve decided that the sane choice is to enjoy feeding them!

Update: You’re Crazy Enough to Care, Too

Jun 012011
 

The story of Andrew Benson Greene, Dreams for Kids, Keisha Luce, Kirk Torregrossa and the children of Sierra Leone’s amputees continues to move forward and take some of us along for the ride.  (see my last post for details.)

About a week ago, I posted an article with a crazy request….  a short, 48-hour window in which to raise the balance of the funds Andrew needs to attend a peace and conflict resolution program at Brandeis in the fall.

Here’s the update.  A number of people responded quickly… and through their generosity we have a small scholarship fund at Dreams for Kids.  We have raised enough to cover the deposit and the Student Visa fee.

What remains is the big ticket item — round trip airfare from Sierra Leone to Boston.  I’ve started shopping around and have asked for help from an expert in the use of Frequent Flier miles.  So, with a slightly longer deadline we are now working on a combination of “deals” on international airfare and some way we may be able to use reward miles.  I’ll keep you updated here or on my Facebook page.

Their story captivates me.  It is an extraordinary example of extracting the best from extreme human suffering…. of love, generosity and hard work overcoming enormous difficulty.  It’s a “Four Foundations in action” story.

In the meanwhile, if you’d like to contribute to Andrew’s travel fund, please visit Dreams for Kids.  To make sure that your donation is earmarked for this project, contributions should be made to the “general” fund and followed with an e-mail to shellyg@dreamsforkids.org

 

Andrew and the children of Sierra Leone amputees

Honoring Adversity, Achievement… and my Dad

Apr 072011
 

On a perfect spring day, my husband and I arrived in Washington DC yesterday, dropped our bags and headed off to collect two of the world’s coolest little people.  A couple of hours spent singing every verse of “She’ll be Comin’ Round the Mountain” followed by “eating” mulch prepared by the almost 4-year-old train conductor on the playground was sheer bliss.

We hopped into a cab, zipped across town and, in pretty spiffy surroundings, changed into our grown-up clothes to begin another “family extravaganza.”  My co-author father is being inducted into the Horatio Alger Association this week; family and friends from lots of parts of his life are here to honor his achievements and help him celebrate. (By the way, Mayor Bloomberg, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jim Rohr are also part of the group being honored this year.)

I’ve attended previous meetings of the Association; it’s where I first connected with at least one of the people I wrote about in What Kids Need to Succeed. On one level I know what to expect:   American Dream stories providing a truly awesome level of inspiration along with high school seniors (the Horatio Alger Scholars) who will become the real stars of three days of gala events.

But on another level, I have no idea what’s coming.

My Dad is going to be up on that stage.

Thousands of people are going to hear the story of his journey from the cold, snowy winters in New Hampshire’s White Mountains to the successful entrepreneur and philanthropist he has become.  My Dad.  They guy who used to carry me on his shoulders to the Kirby meetings and had me convinced that our weekend trips to land sales were vacations.

Somehow eating imaginary chicken at the playground before going to dinner on M street seems like a perfect circle.

Dad and me in college

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