Page 3 - Inspirations2

Now We Let It Rest
We let the garden “rest” a few days, I think that meant Sometimes the plants we wanted were not in yet, so
Daddy needed to rest a few days too. But by the we would pay for everything and head home. The
weekend, it was time to pick out the seeds and select back bed of the truck would have lots plants in peat
the plants. moss cups—mostly tomatoes plants. On the way
home, Daddy and I would talk about when the
A Trip to Petrus Feed and Seed! tomatoes were ripe and how many tomatoes
It was the only place Daddy went for his seeds and sandwiches we were going to have!
plants. We’d drive over and park in the long line of
trucks and saunter in. There was no hurrying when
you visited the feed and seed store. I loved going in,
there was always a haze of dust and the rich syrupy
smell of hay and sweet mix in the air. Usually there
was the peep of hundreds of baby chickens and the
sound of men laughing and talking upon entering the
door.

We’d select the seeds, and get a half pound of this
seed, a quarter pound of that seed. It was my job to
hang onto all the packages of seeds, which I carried
in my hands until there were too many to hold, and
then I used my t-shirt as a tote. When it came time to Nothing in the world tasted so wonderful than a
select the plants, I was free to explore the aisles of the tomato sandwich made with a tomato straight from the
store. garden! In fact, today I don’t even buy tomatoes at
the grocery store because they don’t taste anything
I looked at the different seed packages, the bundles of like a tomato; not to mention they are way too
twine and rope, and roamed the areas the bottles of expensive!
animal and livestock medicines were. The mill itself
was usually in operation, so mixed in with the regular Bringing home plants from the seed and feed store
sounds of business, was the hum and rumble of the meant planting all those tomato plants! So while the
seed mill. I never saw that up close but you could weather was good and there was still daylight, we’d
sometimes see the corn or other seed coming out the decide what rows the tomatoes would grow on. All
chutes and being poured into large sacks and stitched the trays of plants would assemble at the head of the
up with white or red string. The other curious place rows and with the top handle of the hoe or rake,
where I wasn’t allowed to explore, was the area where Daddy would go down the row and poke a hole in the
the live chicks were kept. Since they needed to stay dirt every so often.
warm going through the incubator rooms was off
limits. Continued on page 3

Inspirations Magazine | Spring Page 2