I st arted g
ardening as a child. On my mom’s side we had pioneers, homesteaders, and a well known French Canadian explorer (Jacques LaRamee). My grandfather was born in a sod house on the prairie of northeastern Colorado.
My gre at
aunt K
ate still lived in a soddy when I was a child.
We’d visit her. She kept bees in her attic that we had to pass through going down into her earthen dwelling. She told us not to panic, not to swat at them but walk on by.
The bees supplied honey and pollinated the crops all around us.
To this day I find this the best way to handle most of nature’s creatures. If we remain calm and show that we mean them no harm they react in kind.
Great Aunt Kate was a tiny woman, like my great grandmother Ramey, who was maybe five feet tall. Both were strong women, pioneer stuff.
They had to be, just as their men were survivors who made the best of things.
I learned early that water and natural resources were limited and precious, so I became ecologically minded as a toddler.
At my forebear’s sides I learned to grow things–flowers, vegetables, whatever we could get to live.  That wasn’t much, not on the prairie with its constant winds and droughts. We often had to carry buckets of water to the gardens because there was no hose, no city water, no pump nearby.
This passion has grown over time.
Because of my expertise in these areas, I am
in a great positi on to pass this knowledge
on.