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Quote if the Day: Barbara Damrosch

October 19th, 2009

“Gardening has a magical quality when you are a child.”
Barbara Damrosch

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We spent the afternoon with my family yesterday and our nieces and nephew were super excited to help clean out their garden plot for winter. I remember liking gardening until I got to be a certain age, then I didn’t much care for it for many many years. I came into it again several years ago and each year it becomes a bigger part of my life.

Were you a gardener as a kid, or did you come into as an adult?

13 Comments to “Quote if the Day: Barbara Damrosch”
  1. Teresa O on October 19, 2009 at 5:41 am

    Barbara Damrosh was so right, gardening as a child or with a child is magical. It’s fun thinking about and trying to figure out how gardening played a role in my childhood, but I didn’t really appreciate gardening until I had a garden of my own. As a child it was all about fantasy, fairies, and fun, but the gardens of my childhood were the foundation for the gardens that I grew and loved as an adult.
    .-= Teresa O´s last blog ..A Legacy of Pink =-.

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  2. Dave on October 19, 2009 at 8:36 am

    Good quote! As a kids I didn’t do much gardening but I was around it and learned about it from my parents and grandparents. During college I found myself really taking an interest in it again.
    .-= Dave´s last blog ..The Week of the Greenhouse =-.

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  3. Helen at Toronto Gardens on October 19, 2009 at 10:21 am

    Oh, gosh, my children all seemed to have an amazing resistance to the gardening bug, despite my best efforts. Perhaps they’ll catch it as adults. As for me, I was infected at a very early age, and have been living with it ever since.
    .-= Helen at Toronto Gardens´s last blog ..Frost? Time to rescue annuals & houseplants =-.

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  4. michelle on October 19, 2009 at 1:09 pm

    I have photos of me as a baby nestled amongst the annuals in the greenhouses my parents used to operate. I was born to garden. I can remember as early as three yrs old, planting seeds and helping dad in the garden. I always had my own section in the veggie patch. Now I take over whatever space I have available.

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    • Susy on October 19, 2009 at 10:29 pm

      What lovely memories!

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  5. Kathie on October 19, 2009 at 1:24 pm

    I come from a long line of gardeners. I remember when we were about 8 or 9 my dad gave us kids our own garden plots. Previously we gardened in the family garden. In our garden we could grow whatever we wanted and it was such fun. Dad even made us signs for our gardens and we just thought it was all so special. Having that encouragement led to a life long love of gardening in my case and my dad is still my favorite gardening resource when I need help.

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    • Susy on October 19, 2009 at 10:30 pm

      Sounds like your dad had some great ideas to foster those little green thumbs!

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  6. Conny on October 19, 2009 at 1:28 pm

    My parents were avid gardeners of flowers and so I became good at tending roses. It wasn’t until high school that I discovered my love for vegetable gardening. I’m gently coaxing my 6-yr old son to grow one vegetable of his choice each season – we’ll see if a love of gardening develops.
    .-= Conny´s last blog ..Easing back into the scene =-.

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    • Susy on October 19, 2009 at 10:29 pm

      Hopefully it works!

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  7. MAYBELLINE on October 20, 2009 at 12:07 am

    Always.
    .-= MAYBELLINE´s last blog ..Fall =-.

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  8. Becky S on October 20, 2009 at 6:37 pm

    Some of my earliest childhood memories involve helping my mom in our large backyard garden. She grew herbs like lemongrass that were exotic and fascinating, as well as everyday basics. As I grew up, we moved to a smaller home and there was much less of a garden, and my mom stopped growing food. Now that I’m in my thirties and have my own house and garden, I’ve inspired my mom, who just added a veggie plot in her front yard for the first time in 15 years. The circle of inspiration continues!

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  9. stefaneener on October 21, 2009 at 10:00 pm

    I was a weird gardening throwback, then I gardened not at all through adolescence, then again as an adult. My children just roll their eyes, unless it’s strawberries. Or peas.
    .-= stefaneener´s last blog ..The camera’s fixed! Long post. . . =-.

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  10. Lea on October 25, 2009 at 8:48 pm

    i was definitely a baby gardener! i grew up on a cattle and hay ranch, and we also had horses, all kinds of stray farm critters (cats, dogs, rabbits, you name it), chickens, a dairy cow, and acres of gardens. our parents made each of us kids raise a calf each year as well as tend our own garden plot. we started off with kid friendly things mostly… flowers and pumpkins. then as we got older we gave up the garden plots but helped tend the family garden. nothing too fancy, just acres of corn, cukes, tomatoes, carrots, lettuce and raspberries. didn’t have much success with things such as cabbage, broccoli or potatoes, so we just stuck with those. along with raising the animals, gardening instilled an appreciation for the land that we took for granted. i remember my mom and grandma canning and freezing for days at a time and i never really thought anything of it. fresh milk and egss and fresh produce were totally taken for granted by us spoiled kids! now that they’ve sold the farm, i realize what we had!

    i personally still LOVE gardening, and am surprised as to how intuitive it is for me compared to so many of my friends thanks to the skills i learned as wee one. gardening is definitely becoming a trend for people my age (30s) which makes me happy, and i am the garden guru for all my friends! i don’t have a lawn, i have a beautiful edible landscape, and am learning how to can and preserve happily. i dream of the day i can afford to buy my own farm and have a big garden, chickens, cows and horses…. even though i truly know the reality of the amount of work it will be!

    i just found your blog and i love it! thanks!
    .-= Lea ´s last blog ..my first audit… the bathroom! =-.

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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