by MonetteH

Created on: May 08, 2010   Last Updated: June 07, 2010

My funniest gardening story happened in front of a group of bubbly youth. I was once a student in the very same class as these youngsters and their current teacher, was also my favorite.  She always had pets in the glass and gave us projects, where we'd learn about nature. I was therefore invited back to teach about organic gardening and had a wonderful group of environmentally conscious elementary school students surrounding me. 

It was a real pleasure to be invited to teach this course on gardening organically; as I think when you educate our youth on eating healthy, you're taking a first step to healing the nation.  I started in with my speech very similar to the aforementioned and I could tell I had crowd, so to speak.  I was given a raised bed full of wonderfully rich soil so I could demonstrate the proper way to plant seeds.  As I stood in front of the class and prepared to amaze them with my knowledge, I picked up a baseball size handful of soil.  It was a bit moist and compact and I didn't expect that.  However I began to talk about what types of soil work best for plants and vegetables.  As I spoke I squeezed the soil which to my horror and surprise actually JUMPED out of my hand!  I was actually holding one of the dark brown hamsters that the class has as a pet!  His name was Herman and I think I must have broken his ear drums as I screamed to the top of my voice.  I'm so happy that when Herman jumped he fell in the dirt, because I was running so fast if he had been on the floor, I'm afraid we would have needed a crisis management team called in.  The children all burst into hysterical laughter, as they watch this sophisticated gardener shrink at the sight of a mere hamster.  Once one of the boys retried Herman and put in back in his cage, I joined the laughter.  There were parents in the room too, which makes this a hilarious day I will never forget; as I'm still getting ribbed by many of them.  I wouldn't trade gardening or the wonderful sound of laughter from happy children for anything in the world.

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