Altar Call – Opelika-Auburn News

Walter Albritton

April 27, 2008

Why spring is always my favorite season of the year

The spring of the year is my favorite season. It is a time of new beginnings. A season ends. Another begins. There are new opportunities. Time does not wait. We must seize the moments day by day or they are soon gone. Summer is so quickly upon us.

Spring is a time for planting. Son Tim and I had the itch to plant a garden. With granddaughter Sarah’s help we tilled the soil, bought eleven dollars worth of seed from Brother Seth’s store, and put the seed in the ground ten days after Easter. We chose butter beans, peas, and squash.

Mamma had to have her peppers so we bought five different kinds of small plants. We also planted two dozen cabbage plants from Bonnie Plant Farm at Union Springs. The little tag claims these plants will produce 30 to 50 pound heads of cabbage. We can hardly wait to weigh one. In 10 to 12 weeks we expect to start enjoying steamed cabbage for supper. We should have enough cabbage for many suppers.

I played a trick on Sarah. Under cover of darkness I planted some seeds that promise to produce giant cantaloupes. I can’t wait to ask her why we have cantaloupes growing next to our butter beans.

Sarah’s dad is building a new home on the lot next to ours. To do so he had to cut down some pine trees that he had planted 21 years ago. He was able to harvest the larger ones for lumber. Now he has several piles of ashes where he had burned stumps and underbrush.

Having read about the success some farmers are having by adding charcoal to plant soil, Tim decided we should see for ourselves if charcoal helps. Wow! We are amazed. The squash planted in the pile of ashes are five times bigger and healthier than those planted in regular soil. There is really no comparison.

Tim and his family have cleared the site for their new home. It is springtime and they are making a new beginning. We have enjoyed watching a man use a back hoe to push down trees, dig up stumps, and pile them up for future burn piles. With all that charcoal, Tim may give up his work as a forester and start selling gigantic squash for a living.

Spring is all the more enjoyable because of the dogwood and azaleas that brighten our world. We now have azaleas that bloom twice a year. I wish the plant geniuses would find a way to make dogwood bloom twice a year. I could handle that.

As summer comes I always look forward to the blooming of the crepe myrtles. The August heat is made bearable by the colorful crepe myrtles. We have about ten crepe myrtles, but I may plant a few more.

Near our front door stands our lovely gransy grey-beard or fringe tree. Its blooms are now at the peak of their beauty. The tree was a retirement gift from two wonderful friends so we named it our Betty-Judy tree. Its blossoms remind us of their love.

Last year I decided to plant Mamma a rose garden. I bought and planted 10 lovely rose bushes, and they were truly magnificent. We cut tons of roses and this week I cut our first bouquet of the spring. I forget so easily the names of the roses. One is a Peace rose. Two are Dolly Parton tea roses. I will leave it to your imagination to guess why I bought two of them. I must say they are especially beautiful roses.

The two Knockout Rose bushes bought last year are doing well also. Mamma says we must buy one or two more. She likes roses. Next week I will buy some more. After all it is spring and it will not last forever. While it is spring, I must seize the moment to initiate all the new beginnings I can say grace over. How good of God to give us spring once a year. Enjoy it while time holds back the summer heat. + + +