KinderHouse Moments by Jaimmie Stugard

KinderHouse Moments

By Miss Jaimmie

My family loves to spend a day in the country playing in grandmother’s garden.  The kids harvest carrots and kohlrabi while I split herbs and perennials to transplant at home and at LifeWays. I will never forget when my little fella, who can be rather particular about food, sat on a stump and ate freshly harvested raw kohlrabi with grandpa.  My grandparent’s garden is full of wonder- bird baths, fairy homes, antique bicycles and swings are just a few of the treasures to be found amidst the abundant flowers, herbs and vegetables.  As a girl, I spent many summer days picking raspberries for grandma.  I could spend an entire morning in the garden and yet my basket would never be full (though my tummy was)!  Easter egg hunts in the garden are a delight in any kind of weather and I’m sure the squirrels don’t mind nibbling on the leftover bits of egg they find in the grass.  Even as the cold autumn winds blow and the last of the kale and carrots are harvested, the withering garden maintains its charm and beauty.  We watch as the sneaky squirrels struggle to raid the bird feeders and we say hello to the cardinals and other birds as they rest on the bare branches.     

This Christmas, my family received a special gift from my grandparents, popcorn still on the cob grown with love in granny’s garden.  I brought the cobs to KinderHouse to share with our young friends. We spent many mornings shucking the popcorn kernels of their cobs. On the first day, I set a bowl and a cob of popcorn out on the table anticipating that one or two curious children would come over to observe or help while their friends played around them. Almost immediately, I was surrounded with eager workers.  Soon every child had their own cob of popcorn and their own bowl. They intently popped the kernels off the cobs while chatting and remembering the verse Miss Sandra taught, Popcorn, popcorn. Put it in a pan. Shake it up. Shake it up. Bam. Bam. Bam. Popcorn, popcorn. Now it’s getting hot. Stir it up. Stir it up. Pop. Pop. Pop

After a few days, our bowls were full and we brought our popcorn to the kitchen and watched with anticipation as the hot air popper turned those kernels into a big, tasty bowl of popcorn.   We snacked on popcorn, oranges and tea and savored every last morsel.  The next day, the children asked if we could have popcorn again.  “Not today,” I replied, “today is an oatmeal day.”  But, later that morning, when we went out to play, the snow fell from the sky in great big flakes and the children caught the kernels of snow on their tongues as they fell from the sky.

The Robin

The north wind doth blow
And we shall have snow,
And what will the robin do then, poor thing?
She’ll sit up in a barn
To keep herself warm,
And she’ll hide her head under her wing, poor thing!

The north wind doth blow
And we shall have snow,
And what will the swallow do then, poor thing?
Well do you not know
That he’s gone long ago,
To a country much warmer than ours, ah!

The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will the dormouse do then, poor thing?
He’ll curl up in a ball,
In his nest oh so small,
And he’ll sleep ‘til it’s spring time again, poor thing.