Some of you remember my post about Manners in the Garden. Last summer we had a few issues with kids not respecting the growing plants… stepping on seedlings, playing football too close to the bed… typical kid stuff, all *mostly* accidents.
Well, this year I planted my garden in the backyard of the library again. Wasn’t it Van Gogh who said the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? Am I insane? Did I expect different results? Who can say?
It is May 23rd. I put all of my beautiful little seedlings in the ground about 2 weeks ago. Admittedly, this garden is MUCH less precious to me than gardens of the past have been because I chose not to start any plants from seeds. I just don’t have it in me anymore. I’ve buried too many seedlings. 😦
Anyway, I digress.
This is a young garden. The plants are still getting acquainted with the ground. They are still adolescent plant babies and I am obsessed with checking on them constantly.
Another difference with this year is that I no longer work at the library, and therefore can no longer log garden time as work. BUT, my BFF Izzy (my 10 year-old pal/sister from my library days) is sharing the garden with me. Basically agreeing to help me water and weed it, in exchange for taking veggies and flowers home for her family all summer long. Also it’s an excuse to hang out more, which is dope. I love Izz. But Izzy and I went out to check on the garden yesterday, and to our HORROR our beloved dill and young tomatoes were victim to RECKLESS BACKYARD ROUGH HOUSING. We were appalled.
Izzy ran into the makerspace and started frantically pulling materials off of the shelves muttering something about “showing them what we’re made of” and “protecting the children”. I have never been more proud.
20 minutes later, we were sitting on the floor surrounded by cut up lengths of canvas and multi-colored sharpies, and determined to make our voices, and those of the plants, heard.
We created a slew of signs, ranging from peaceful “Respect the Garden” to more graphic “Don’t kill us like our ancestors”. Izzy really showed me what she was made of, as if I didn’t know who I was dealing with… (a sass queen). At the end of our impromptu maker sesh, I was left with all of these random pieces of canvas, and no real idea of how I was going to display them in my backyard raised bed.
Enter stage left, the true hero of the story, MY SEWING MACHINE.
In my opinion, there’s nothing some bright yellow thread, hand-dyed yarn, and a solid zig zag stitch can’t do. 
I got home from work today and strung these signs together faster than I could spell “ancestors”. My sewing machine is such a beloved tool that I feel like I never get to use, and it brings me such joy to see her humming along, especially when she’s helping me create this fun and random project.
With some help from a teen library patron and a few close encounters with a hammer (and some duct tape), I successfully strung up the cutest little garden signs you ever did see, and I am SO PLEASED with how they look.
Here are some close-ups of the actual signs. They are gold.
Anyway. Another exciting day in the life of Nora, the eternal Maker Educator.
Thanks for reading, if anyone’s reading. 🙂 Send good vibes to my bb plants!
Ms. Nora Makes 