Madison720web

A place where she
can shine like the sun.
Erin Williams
It’s long been said that learning
to garden can grow more than
vegetables, flowers, herbs, and
spices. In fact, as someone who is an avid
gardener herself, I’d venture to say that the
fruits from a garden go much further than
the tangible fruits you can see, eat, and
cook with. The internal fruits that come
from cultivating your own garden - things
like patience, relaxation, hard work, and
physical labor, to name a few - become just
as apparent as the edible fruits themselves.
11-year-old Brinley Walker of Flora is a
testament to this. One day during the
quarantine this spring, Brinley and her
mother Susan were talking about how they
thought they would enjoy doing a garden
together. Though they had created a “stone
soup” garden when Brinley was six and
enjoyed it, they now had more space for a
bigger garden after their family moved to the
country in Flora and had room to spread out.
“We ended up getting all of the supplies
we needed for two raised beds, as well as
rock and lights for our pathway,” said Susan.
“We wanted the garden to feel like a tranquil
space day and night, and once we got
started, we didn’t stop until it felt as magical
as we had envisioned. We worked hard
together and felt excited when we were
done, and now we are seeing the results of
all of our efforts.”
From the building of the garden boxes
to the organizing of the stones, watering the
garden, pulling the weeds, and harvesting
the ripe vegetables, Brinley has been at the
helm of it all.
“I thought it would be a fun project to
start a garden, and I have enjoyed watching
the plants go through different stages of
growth from planting the seed to seeing the
plant pop up through the soil,” said Brinley.
Brinley has also enjoyed turning her
garden into a hands-on learning environment.
“I learned how fast certain plants grow
compared to others and I have enjoyed
watching the process,” said Brinley. “My
mom and I made identification stakes for
each plant and we put pictures of the fruit
and vegetables on each tag. I want to harvest
the seed from this year to use next year.”
Her work in her garden has also taken
root in her kitchen where she’s created
several kid-friendly recipes that utilize fresh
produce and can be made with little-to-no
assistance from a parent. Her recipes were
even included in a kids section of Susan’s
recent cookbook. Today, Brinley is working
on her own cookbook that will be ready for
purchase in September and will feature only
her recipes, including tasty meals and treats,
that kids can prepare all by themselves.
“Brinley has always been motivated to
finish any task that she starts. She built the
garden, maintains it, and even makes sure
that bugs aren’t eating the plants,” said
Susan. “It’s been exciting to see what new
things she discovers each day and how she
is growing just like her garden is. I’ve seen
her eagerness while waiting for some of the
vegetables to ripen and how she has had to
learn patience. It’s been something where
we are all really building memories together
and we are so glad we did it.”
14 • JULY 2020