"God blesses my garden, but he doesn't weed it."  ~Author Unknown

Ralph's tiller keeps on digging in the dirt and providing food and beauty.  Ralph and Opal Graham of the Hurricane MS Community no longer till the ground, having retired and adopted less strenuous container gardening. They raised abountiful crop of tasty tomatoes, potatoes, okra and greens this year in containers filled with hay and a little planting mix.

But Ralph's tiller keeps on digging. His son-in-law and grandson-in-law now use it in their small gardens. There's just no comparison between home grown fresh vegetables and canned or frozen ones or those tasteless commercial hybrids shipped from hundreds or thousands of miles away.

Ralph and Opal and that tiller have fed a lot of people from their garden for many years, including themselves, relatives, neighbors and friends. We continue to eat delicious frozen peas and butterbeans from our freezer.

There's a lot of love and hard work in those bags of peas and butterbeans.

I learned a lot from Ralph about gardening, hunting, fishing, faith, and hard work. My daddy died when I was twelve years old, so Ralph has been my daddy for the forty years his daughter and I have been married.

One lesson I learned from him is to have good tools and to keep them well maintained. The tiller digs as deep and cleanly as it ever did, though used many years. All the tiller wants is a little gasoline, a little cleaning, an occasional oil change, and a place out of the weather.

Ralph's tiller is doing even more good this year. It worked in a community garden which provided almost 3,000 pounds of fresh produce to the needy. It helped dig and create flower beds for several Habitat For Humanity homes.

Ralph and Opal's giving keeps on giving and will, Lord willing, for years to come.

Ain't God good!
Carl Wayne, Master Gardener