By Carolyn Hensley

I have always loved being outside in God’s beautiful creation.  I’m very thankful daily, for all God has done.  It is life’s blessing to see the beauty of life growing all around.

I grew up in Kinderhook, Michigan.  My father was a generational farmer/ factory worker and my mother was a housewife/nurse assistant.  Of course, as children you only do what is told, and you don’t learn all of the tricks & trades and habits of farming. It all came natural for my dad as he had farmed all his life.  Although, we knew it wasn’t all his doing, so we all had prayed a lot for the weather.  My dad did share-cropping with everyone though, so we knew everyone in our neighborhood.

I was always welcomed by all our neighbors.  In the spring, I could get several boxes of gardening and flower seeds, and bike around the neighborhood to sell the seeds for some spending money.  All our neighbors had known my dad since he was a little boy.  They would welcome me into their home just to talk about my father and my family.  I could also always count on them buying gardening seeds from me.

My mother’s father was an engineer.  His hobby was gardening, and he had had several gardens around his farm.  He had flowers, fruits, and vegetables.  My sisters and I helped him with all his gardens. When he planted huge strawberry patches, we would pick strawberries for him.  Out of all the jobs I had around the farm, this was the best one.  We would put them in quart cartons and sit in my grandfather’s yard to sell them.  We sold them for 25 cents a quart or 5 quarts for a dollar. Because this was a great price, many people bought them.  My grandmother would help us pick vegetables, shuck English peas, and snap beans.  She also had taught us the preparations for canning.

My grandparents also had berry bushes in the summer.  This was a tougher job because we had to pick uncontrolled berries in the woods.  In the fall, black walnut trees grew where the berry bushes were.  This was also a nasty job because the walnuts did not smell so good.  My grandfather dried the walnuts on the roof before he shucked them.

The best season was winter.  My grandfather and I would tap maple trees.  We would then ride around in a wagon pulled by a tractor, collecting the sap.  He had a kettle that he would cook the maple syrup in.  This always smelled great as we sat in his backyard stirring the syrup.

My father would always plant vegetable gardens at our house as well.  He would put in a full field of sweet corn.  It was my sisters and my job to take the tractor and a wagon to the corn field.  After the corn was fully grown, we would pick the corn and sell it for 35 cents per dozen.  The money would go to our school clothes for the next fall.

After I was married, my husband and I moved to Montgomery, Alabama.  My passion was tending to rose bushes, so every birthday or Mother’s Day my husband and children would buy me rose bushes.  I always loved the beauty and fragrance of them.

After taking the Montgomery Master Gardener Class I realized, I am very blessed to be in this class.  Not only do I know more than I ever have about gardens, but I also have learned about growing and maintaining all types of gardens.

Carolyn Hensley, an intern in the 2020 Master Garden Class, lives in Wetumpka.  For more information on becoming a master gardener, visit www.capcitymga.org or email capcitymga@ gmail.com.