the weldon and sybil memorial garden

mom and dad retired in 1976 and moved back to their homeland. they settled initially in cookson on a six acre wooded parcel near tenkiller lake. as soon as they got their mobile home planted and the oak trees thinned, they started working on a garden. and every spring, whether in cookson or later when they moved in to henryetta, they tilled the soil and planted a garden.

coming to visit early in the summer was a real treat. we tried to show up about the time they were harvesting the new potatoes and onions. and they always had bumper crops of that greens stuff as well. peas, beans, cucumbers, and the oklahoma staple, okra. yuck.

mom died in 1995. dad had a hard time getting himself motivated to plant a garden the following spring. he just didn't have the interest. but ultimately he succumbed and planted again. it was hard for him to work it without mom, but i guess he felt it was a way to keep connected.

over the years the garden got smaller. in 2007, when we moved back, the garden had diminished down to a few tomato plants. and even that frustrated him because he couldn't eat the entire crop, and he had a hard time finding anyone to give the rest to. so in the spring of 2008, at the ripe old age of 93, he quit. for the first time in over thirty years he had no semblance of a garden.

back then he tried to talk jo and i into hauling his rototiller home with us and starting our own garden. jo has a half-acre lot behind her house, so we had room to do it. but we lacked the ambition.

dad died last october. we made several trips to his house to settle things. and we went thru his "stuff" and we all grabbed anything we wanted keep. on my last trip out hon and i cleaned out the rest of the things we felt anyone wanted and left the remainder to be sold at the estate auction, which should be taking place next week. then, while we loading things up, i hoisted that heavy old rototiller and brought it back too.

we used the tiller about a month ago. on a nice sunday while hon was still in branson, i tilled the flowerbed in front of jo's house. then we started talking about a garden. why not.

so today, saturday, the day before easter, and a nice day at that, scooter and i went over to jo's, back in to the "pasture", as we call her back lot, and we tilled up a nice sized area. then jo and i went to the farm store and got some plants and seeds. tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, squash, zucchini, onions, bell pepper. maybe more. can't remember it all. when we were done tilling and starting to sow the seeds, scooter suggested we need a sign. the weldon and sybil nix memorial garden. good idea.