A Fantastic Day With Mother in My New Life

I had been growing my own blueberry bushes for some time now. I have no pets (I love animals, and all sorts of them in middle and high school) but I plan on traveling and they are expensive; take a lot of up-keep especially if you want to avoid the animal smell, dog and cat hair on your clothes. I do plan on having animals again, but that will be a time when they have wide open spaces to be in. On my old 330 acre farm my dogs could run wild. We had cattle (they are like big dogs, really), and a horse named Sundance. We had many cats, I had snakes, lizards, salamanders, and a sugar glider. So now my plants have been my “pets”, and being a vegetarian they really could be a complete food source for me cutting back on grocery bills, plus, they will be organic, and clean (without toxic pesticides).

However, recently I was forced to make a lateral move to a new apartment (I had planned on moving straight onto a piece of land I could grow my own groceries (or most), and had to find a home for my pets. I have truly turned into a plant person these last few years. I spent time with my blueberry plants, weeding, tending, buying night crawlers to stock them with, and listening to music outside while I drink looking at the stars and moon and writing. You really develop a relationship with them.

At first, I needed a little extra cash for books since the college I am attending does not accept student loans and I am paying for each (Biology) class out of my pocket. So I sold a few of the blueberry plants to my mother in exchange for money for books. I didn’t want to ask to “borrow” money for my own ego’s sake, and she and I have always had a love for nature in common. She was known as “Nature Lady” at our Cub Scout Day Camp (she had her own station where the Cub Scouts came to learn about nature facts. She took my baby Rat Snake, Tony, once to teach the kids about reptiles but she lost him out there). And we had both fallen in love with the massive blueberries trees our late neighbor had had later when we moved from the farm into a massive home down South in Alabama. He let us pick all we wanted and we had delicious smoothies with locally grown blueberries. So, I decided to give all my beloved plants to her.

They have since been setting outside her home, because her little plot of land is on rock-hard Alabama clay. I had a 3 day weekend coming up so I spent 2 of the days with her digging holes for our beloved pets. Yesterday morning I woke up early and we headed to the local city run pool where she does aerobics and I worked on my dives, and swam laps while she was in Water Aerobics class. That’s another thing we have in common. We both eat healthy, stay active and exercise. After swimming we went back to her home and I began to dig.

Alabama weather is no joke, but I knew that already. I’ve gotten used to the climate, and culture. You just get hot, stay hot, get a tan and sweat. I dug 7 holes for our blueberry plants this weekend in rock hard Alabama clay. Mom helped a lot of course. She kept me digging in the right places because it gets fuzzy when you are in the one and heat. She also introduced good ideas, tactics and tools; digging some while I took a breather. It was like being in Alabama Summer Camp all over again. Her plumbing had been having trouble recently and backed up while I was digging so I put my swimming trunks back on, grabbed my natural Tea Tree & Lemon Grass body wash and a face towel. I had her hose me down with cold water while I washed all the dirt and sweat off. It felt like Church Camp where we all used to go to…near where we live now. The boys used to have to hike up a trail in the woods to get to the pool atop the hill. Alabama nature and culture.

While we have had our differences… I do love my mother. She is always ready for fun, adventure and nature. And I sleep better knowing she has healthy food in her yard. She’ll be able to make blueberry pies, and sell the surplus when her freezer is full at the Local Farmer’s Market.

Last updated October 02, 2023