Mr. Sam is Here

"How green it was there and how quiet, and what soft crisp grass under their feet! They could hardly believe it was true, and yet here were green branches huskily rattling on their hats as they bent beneath them, and little colored flowers curling round their shoes." Travers, Mary Poppins








Mary had decided that before she take them all up on their offer to use some of these gifts of bathsalts, that they should take a quick once over of Snapdragon farm just to be sure that our new friend Mr. Sam was truly up for such a thing. She placed her gift on the counter at the kitchen and quickly declared, "Caitlin, you can a guided tour, Paige you can be in charge of showing the chickens, and, lets see now, Rose, yes, Rose, you can be in charge..." she was quickly interrupted. Rose had noticeably become more cheery to all of this, for that tended to be her way, and she scooped up her own bag, and said "let's go see the wildflower garden first!" Mr. Sam was very clearly elated by the fact that it was Rose who chose to show the garden. "Did you see what was inside your own bag Rose?" He asked. She quickly tucked her hand inside the bag and ripped out the tissue paper to find the slenderest little pouches she had ever seen. She shook the two small baggies quickly and could hear the tinkle of something small inside. "Those are picked seeds, for your garden," he said. Those just happen to be heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers. You grow those, Rose, and then let Paige help you harvest them. Then we hand those to Caitlin, who is in charge of the menu!" Mr. Sam gave a quick glance to Natalie, who seemed very complicit with this plan, smiled, and walked over to Rose to take a look at the bag herself. "The farm hasn't been with us for very long," Mary began and began to point out, as she also did to visitors, first the wide open savannah so easily visible from the kitchen window. "This was really meant to be a hobby farm for our family." There was an immediate hush to the celebration. Any mention of father was still so fresh, only two years, and each of them had, over these past two years, struggled with looking at Snapdragon Farm with both eyes on the future and the past. Paige quickly spoke up, walking up to the window herself. Paige was the tallest of the three girls, quite slender and athletic, with a neutral face that always looked as if it could be on the rise toward a smile. "Father said that he wanted us to be surrounded by a garden and by prairie. He grew up near one himself."