03/15/09

I had gone out today and when I came back, Josue (pronounced Jo see A), a kindergartener, was at my house with my roommate. They were sitting on the couch practicing Creole. I said hello and went on my way. I had been wanting to start planting some sunflowers along a wall that is just inside the gate. We don't have anything growing there right now and my sister, Sherrie, had sent some sunflower seeds to me. They aren't the typical sunflowers. They don't get quite as high and they are various colors, including red, violet, and orange. Well, I had gotten out some Jiffy brand starter pots and a bag of potting soil that I had shipped down here. I had them lined up along the counter when Josue came out to see what I was doing. Since he is too short to see, I pulled up a folding chair for him to stand on. He sat down on the chair and said he was too short to see. I laughed and told him that the chair was for him to stand on so he could see. He smiled and then gave me a big "thank you". I was tearing small pieces of paper towel to place in the bottom of the pots so they would drain, but also so the soil wouldn't fall out the hole on the bottom. I started giving him the torn pieces so he could place them in the pots, then began spooning soil into them. After they were all full, I had Josue hand pick each seed that we would use, then we watered them all. He asked if I was making a garden. I told him that they were flower seeds and showed him the packet. I pulled out a bunch of packets to show him and asked if he wanted to plant any of the seeds for his house. With a big grin he started sorting through the packets and found sweet corn. He said, "I like corn!" so I set the packet aside. I told him to pick more and he found a tomato packet and said he likes "tomat" (the Creole word for tomato). Since I didn't know how much space his family has behind their house, I told him that we would start a few seeds of corn and a tomato plant. He threw his hands in the air and said, "I MAKE GARDEN!" then reached over and grabbed my arm. My roommate and I started laughing. He repeated it a few times and was very excited. I told him that I would keep the pots here and wait for the plants to get big. Once they did, we would take them to his place and transplant them. I am planning on planting the corn for him and then plant some bean seeds next to the corn. The beans can use the corn as a pole to climb to maximize the use of the limited space. Below is a picture of Josue at the Christmas Program last December.