I took a month away from our wonderful Vermont school garden so that I could help my daughter and her husband bring their first baby into the world. Avery Quinn Hopper, 7 lbs.2 oz. was born in Boulder, Co. just as school was starting in Westminster, Vt., on August 29, 2012.
While we were getting settled with our new arrival in Colorado, the weeds were settling in back in Vermont. I had left on August 23rd, thinking that the garden was is good shape for school to begin….apparently, NOT! The moist August/ September Vermont weather was just what weeds needed to have a ‘field day.’ I returned to a garden shrouded in a sea of waist high lacy vegetation. Where were the pristine mulched rows I had left? What had become of the new lettuce? It was buried beneath overachieving WEEDS. One of our teachers, Valerie, contacted me and gently suggested that she could help ‘uncover’ the garden on a Sunday when she was at school planning. Between her 2 hours and my 4, we unearthed half the garden, re-exposing the lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and marigolds to the waning rays of autumn sunlight. Many thanks, Valerie! We both went home looking like we’d spent an afternoon at a cruel spa, getting full-body cold mudpacks. It’s amazing how many heavy wet weeds can thrive in a garden in one short month!