30 Signs You're a Midwest Gardener

Sunset

You consider salvaged barn boards a decorative essential.

You’ve hung more “vintage scrap” in your trees than birdhouses.

Snow on the ground in February is a sign God really does want you to spend another evening looking at seed catalogs.

You’ve made a sitting bench out of an old door, horseshoes, cement blocks, hay bales or other handy stuff and been proud of your work.

You consider it a competitive sport being able to sneak extra zucchini to other people without their knowing it was you.

Sunrise

The first bite of the first tomato from your garden actually brings tears to your eyes.

You still plant some things every year because they remind you of your grandma’s garden.

Part of every garden party is a game of “bags”.

You’ve spent some time on a “fine” afternoon looking up at the sky and just being.

You learned to spit a watermelon seed in grade school and still feel the pull when kids are doing it today.

Using antique hand wrought square nails on a garden project is like gilding a project with gold.

Flooded spring fields

You have tried herbal and natural fertilizers as they become the “in” thing and still prefer the number one natural fertilizer: horse manure.

You can talk about manure as enthusiastically as some folks talk about their new game box.

You understand the power of weather will always trump the best garden plan.

You’ve actually shed tears when a neighbor’s crops have been damaged by hail or wind.

 If you love God, you praise Him with wonder every time you see some magnificent work of nature unfold.

After an ice storm

You’ve spent some time watching an insect do it’s thing.

You’ve taken advantage of the cycles of nature to explain life to a child.

You are more proud of your work worn hands than if you were a hand model for an advertisement.

You smile when you see a little spilled corn or beans along a roadside knowing it will feed some critters tonight.

You’re proud to know a farmer who donates part of their family’s grain to feed the hungry. 

You’ve taken a chance on something new for the garden and been blown away at how great it turned out.

Morning fog and frost

Your Pinterest page is full of different kinds of handmade row markers for gardens.

You know how to hitch one foot up on the bumper of a pick-up truck and talk about the weather. 

Work boots are so essential you have a special place to put them so they’ll always be ready for any job.

You know what it’s like to nurse a little newborn animal when you’re all it has between life and death.

You consider yourself Blessed every time you can give away produce from your garden to someone who no longer can garden or hasn’t the opportunity.

Somewhere over the rainbow

You would no more get Botox for sun squint wrinkles than throw away your grandpa’s pitchfork.

Man, woman, child or baby - you own at least one pair of overalls.

You touch some tools with reverence because they belonged to someone you loved.

Bonus points:  You shook your head several times while reading this article.