Simple Gifts

 A cascade of sharing began with a simple gift.

This story began in early January with my donation of several bags of nearly new cold-weather clothing to the North Carolina victims of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. A neighbor and her spouse stopped by to pick them up. The conversation turned to gardening.

I placed a seed catalog in their mailbox. When I dropped in to visit several weeks later, the husband handed me flats of lettuce and broccoli seedlings.

We’ve been enjoying lovely salads made with the lettuce, but now fast-forward to June 1st: the broccoli is fully grown. However, six large broccoli heads are too much for two people to eat.

I shared a head with the next-door neighbor, and he walked back over with three lovely garlic heads. They are now drying in my greenhouse. He intends to cook the broccoli as part of a dinner for a friend with cancer.

I drove down the mountain; my first stop was to visit a couple of part-time residents. They were thrilled to receive the freshly cut vegetable. After a short visit, she handed me a container of golden muffins. I can confirm they were delicious.

At the next home, my broccoli present was reciprocated with three lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina) plants. Today, I planted them in one of my perennial gardens: their soft leaves and silver-gray color add a nice contrast to a semi-circle of irises. That family texted me in thanks for an excellent addition to their dinner.

My final delivery, which included broccoli, a book, and three borage plants, was to my Master Gardener friend. We took a stroll among her beautiful gardens. She loaded me up with a tray of seedlings and three sage plants. The sage is a perfect companion plant for pumpkins, filling in some gaps in my garden.

Later that evening, she offered a photo of a dinner she prepared for herself and her husband-a gorgeous quiche.

An act of kindness sparked a chain reaction of giving. What have you shared today?

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