Coco the Rock Painter. I do hope this counts as an art project for her virtual 3rd grade classroom.
Mini Gardening
This year my mini-garden at the farm is somewhat, well. . . you might say, scattered. I have a few herbs, tomatoes, onions, and squash co-mingled with my flowers. Both sun and soil are better in my flower beds. What’s more, JC installed a watering system.
With such a hodgepodge of veggies and flowers in the same spot, I decided to mark my plants, especially the herbs, that I often send someone to pluck, when I need to spike a dish with more flavor.
Painted Rock Is Not Just a State Park
I already have one painted rock, that I got from the Botanical Gardens years ago. It reads “Parsley.” I checked online to see what was available in other rocky markers. I soon learned that customized markers ain’t cheap these days. So I turned to another source—my youngest granddaughter, who has an artistic flair.
“Would you be willing to paint the names of some herbs on small rocks for the plants at the farm?” I asked Coco.
“Sure,” she said excitedly. “Send me the names of the herbs and some rocks and I’ll paint them for you.”
Now smooth rocks of the right size and shape are hard to come by in our neck of the woods. So I sent Robin and Austin to scavenge the banks of the Dry Fork River, that runs near our house. They returned with a box of rocks, that were more Ozark in style, but fit the site nicely.
Lessons from the River Bed
🙂 You will recognize this as Rosemary rather than Oregano. But it’s in the vicinity, where the Oregano will go.
A Whisper from the Rocks
For me, these hand-painted, local rocks have far more meaning than the ones I found online. They not only mark my herbs, they’ll be a permanent reminder of the year we went without hugs, and school, and the nearness of friends and family.
There are lessons to be learned from those ancient rocks. The ravages of time and tide have not worn them down. Instead, it’s left them rugged, resilient—and useable.
