Seeds & Cabbages & Kings

“How did the corn get to be what it is, Chini?” Lila aged 5 asked holding up an ear of corn.
     “Well, it grew,” I answered (another nickname for me is Chini).
      The inevitable came.
      “How?”
      So, that began a discussion of seeds and growth and minerals and water and nutrients and life force and energy.  When we got home, we sat at our outdoor table and shucked the corn for dinner.  I big flower garden surrounds the terrace, so I got up from the shucking and gathered several different seed pods.
     “Look, see these?” I asked and then broke them open. Each different type of flower produces a uniquely designed seed pod that offers up anywhere from a few large seeds to lots of tiny ones. Lila’s eyes widened and so too did Avery’s (aged 8).
     We talked about how life was stored in the seeds and how when the seeds got soaked in water and planted in earth  --- a mixture of ground up rocks and natural mulch from vegetation --- the seeds can release their stored life force and grow.
     I am still amazed at this huge and wonderful mystery and take great pleasure in plants of all kinds from weeds to carrots to rice to strawberries.  The seeds are so varied, the plants are so varied, and yet the energy to grow to prosper is the same.
     Avery then and there decided to become a botanist.  She told Shannon that she would love to live in the jungle, thought a bit, and opined as how she would miss skiing.  Ah, to be 8 with such huge decisions to make.
     Lila came to me the next day.  She had gathered many pods, emptied them, sorted them,  and began to plant them.  Some she planted in the earth of the garden; others she put in an old Frisbee that she filled with earth and put on a rock in the field in front of our house.
     “Don’t forget the water,” I said.
      “I won’t,” she replied.  She didn’t.
      I hope they grow, but cold weather is coming.
If you want to know about the cabbages and kings, you’ll have to wait.
~Ray