Meeting Grandma Sutton

We have this horse boarding barn just outside our subdivision. That's where I was able to gather pecans in October. e mentioned that his mom lived behind the stables but I had never been back there. I keep seeing her garden (a small corner of it) when I bike by so I finally pulled down the dirt driveway to get a good look at it. She was working in the garden and I felt like I was snooping so I was going to sneak back to my bike but I thought her garden was beautiful and I wanted to tell her so, so I walked over to her. I startled her and when she spoke, it sounded exactly like my own grandma's voice. I have never thought that anyone sounded like my grandma before so for a second, I was startled too.

I told her I loved her garden and she began telling me about it and telling me about how life used to be on the farm there. She has 4 of her children still living on the original farm, though that land has been split by a major highway that didn't used to be there.

She was very proud of the water fountain that her husband made for her not too long before he passed away, late last year. She pointed it out to me and told me I should look at it. It was nice.

Half of her garden is volunteer. She throws her kitchen scraps on the ground, buries them in the winter and veggies come up...and when she is thinning her flower garden, she has a separate place to put those trimmings and lots of stuff grows there as well.

She invited me to come back anytime I felt like it. I think she was a bit lonely, even though her kids live right there. I really enjoyed my time with her in her garden. I will have to go back and visit soon. I got her name before I left. She said her name was Stella but that everyone calls her Grandma Sutton. Seems fitting to me. She gave me a mega cucumber for helping her weed. That was from the volunteer part of her garden.

A very enjoyable visit indeed!