When Ruby Tries to Grow Candy

Today, Annie and I, went back to the dirt doctor. WARNING, they don't normally give the dirt back. Poor Annie looked so pathetic; the man went and found our coffee can and filled it with dirt from the back. She then talked in length about her dirt to two little ceramic bunnies she met at the store, picked out some seeds and then we headed for home for nap time.

As with all moms, nap time, is get stuff done time, so I take this opportunity to get the lime and cottonseed mixed into the dirt. When Ruby Tries to Grow Candy, I don't remember her complaining about her back aching or sweat dripping down her forehead. Yet when I try to till (by shovel, no tills here) our garden bed for the second time I can barely make it. Believe it or not our 12x8 bed is fully tilled, fed and ready to go. My back may not work for a while, but our soil is in great shape. I'm not sure that I'm going about this the right way. So far, gardening for Annie has meant we read books, buy stuff and poke at dirt every once in a while. Everything is lolly pops and gum drops, right? Little does she know that every day at nap time I'm out there shoveling and weeding. Where are the children's books about the reality of gardening? Where the kids shovel while the mom sits drinking iced tea or perhaps a whiskey sour?