garden news-the garden is a playground

GARDEN NEWS-THE GARDEN IS A PLAYGROUND

the playgrounds have been closed around here for months so have the schools
some are open and some are not

a lot of folks have kept their kids in virtual class

since mr hudson had his transplant he has been in total lockdown
whether we had the covid pandemic or not he would still be in total lockdown mode
its sad sometimes to think he has never been able to play with other kids except for his sister ms b

sometimes when we bring him to our condo he will go out on our porch and watch some of the other kids play in the courtyard visible from our front porch
i wonder what he is thinking 
whats it like to play with those other kiddos

ms b has not played with other kids since march of last year
when she does come over she will go out on our upstairs patio and visit with our neighbors daughter who stands below on the sidewalk and who is her age and who is one of her friends
they will talk and visit for 30 minutes sometimes

mr hudson can not afford to be exposed to the covid virus since his immune system is so low

so they are limited to what they can do and where they can go outside their own backyard
luckily they have a large backyard with a small garden large sandbox trampoline etc for them to play in

playgrounds are off limits

their parents have found places they can go that is outside where there are no humans around

so 
one place that is sanctuary for them mr hudson and ms b is our community garden

we take them there sometimes when no one else is there

they have 1-2 acres all to themselves

in the picture above is them walking through the banana grove with its tall banana trees
they can see bananas and their big ole flowers sometimes covered with bees
i even told them wink wink that they might see some monkeys up in those trees
heck
sometimes i will reach over and shake a bananas tree and it sounds like monkeys jumping around up there
i must say it makes the kiddos get real quiet
but
ms b and mr hudson love it

they also got to see up close and touch and feel a bunch of bananas recently harvested
on some days they get to eat a freshly picked banana

as you enter our garden area in the front field there is a structure that was used for the christmas tree sale
ms b and mr hudson used them as their monkey bars

besides swinging on the low bars mr hudson like an all boy does went straight for the gopher hills kicking all the mounds apart 
im sure he wanted to use his dump truck to load the dirt

from the front field they go straight to the chickens
im sure if you asked them what their favorite part of the garden is it would be the chickens
they feed them bread from home and find things in the garden to feed the chickens
on this trip the favorite food item was sour grass or oxalis
we have tons of it growing in the garden 
so we weeded the garden and fed the oxalis to the chickens

from the chickens they go to where the fruit is stored on a large picnic table
they sat and ate several types of oranges the favorite being satsumas
they also harvested some sweet peas from my garden and sat and ate them also

we let mr hudson pick some satsumas from the trees
he eats whatever he harvests
thats the rule

the orchard is also another fun place for the kids to play with all its different fruit and nut trees
and bee hives and trails etc

then a real favorite of many of the kids is the giant pepper tree with its limbs drooping to the ground
when we first moved here over three years ago that limb she is sitting on was not rooting yet and she could sit up there and i would bounce the limb like a bucking bronco
she loved it
its now rooted and does not move as easily as before

the area of the pepper tree is a pleasant almost meditative place
one neighbor comes there sometimes and just sits and plays his flute
i enjoy listening to his music as i garden

we do some of our educational classes under that big ole pepper tree
some families come there just to have a picnic

there have been times when i have gone there just to sit
feeling like i needed some time to myself to meditate and think without interruptions except for the wind and the birds and the bees and the lizards and the sunlight and the clouds and the mountains in the distance
a peaceful place
im sure ms b and mr hudson feels it when they are there

so
we spent well over an hour there with them in our beautiful garden
they ate locally grown fruits and veggies all organic

they got plenty of fresh air
and
plenty of exercise

im sure it felt good to both of them to be free and able to run and play and jump around

im sure if asked they would say it was the highlight of the week

they needed that bad real bad
so do other kids all across the country 
need things like this

my hope is all the teachers and employees can get vaccinated so ms b can return back to school
so she can reach some degree of normalcy 
then
i look forward to the day mr hudson can sit down in play in the dirt with his trucks with a buddy of his

that will be one happy day when that can happen

fyi

mr hudson spent 24 hours in the hospital receiving intravenous immunoglobulin infusions this week
this infusions contains antibodies from pooled plasma that fights off viruses and other infections
he has a virus in his kidney that can kill his kidney
its a virus that showed up since he is immunosuppressed
we are all exposed to it but our immune system keeps it under control
this infusion should wipe out the virus
hopefully there is some covid 19 antibodies in that infusion also

so the ivig or intravenous immunoglobulin should wipe out the virus and he can return to his normal recovery back to normal progress he is making

he and his sister needed that playdate in the garden 

we will give them more of them 

the organicgreen docor