When I have visitors in our Garden, I enjoy telling them stories of things they see as part of our garden décor and plants. Things that are most important to me are things connected to a family memory. I love the thought of a heritage garden! One of my most special memories is the story about Daddy Boyd’s Tub. I have this tub in our garden and it makes me smile every time I see it!
When I was a little girl, we lived right next door to my grandmother and grandfather…Mama Bea and Daddy Boyd. We always had great adventures together! Mama Bea taught me how to cook, garden, and have tea parties, while Daddy Boyd taught me about birds, cows, horses, and how to find new kittens in the barn. It was a wonderful way to grow up!
One of the most vivid memories I have of helping Daddy Boyd take care of his cows and horses, was every Saturday morning, we cleaned out the big old watering tub. He told me that this tub once belonged to his great-grandmother! She used it as a molasses tub until it cracked at the rim and one leg broke off…that’s when she gave it to him to use for watering his cows and horses. He had had this tub for a very long time and I was his first helper! Early on Saturday morning, we would walk to the pasture behind his house with an old broom that was bent sideways from many times of cleaning out the tub. We would sweep out the dirty water and scrub the tub as clean as we could, and then it was time for a swim!
I would crawl over the front rim of the tub, because it was the lowest part, and Daddy Boyd would walk back up to the house to the well. He would draw water and pour it into a trough that had a pipe that flowed right into the big tub.
As he was drawing the water, I was sitting in the empty tub waiting for that cold well water to come rushing out of the pipe to fill the tub for the animals.
I know I would always scream as that water came pouring in…I loved it! Daddy Boyd would laugh and keep on pouring water into the trough until the tub was full and I was neck deep in my own private swimming pool, except for the cows and horses of course! When they heard the fresh water come into the tub, the always came over for a drink of cool water. They didn’t mind sharing it with me, but I have to say, it was quite a sight to see those huge animals leaning down for a drink while I was sitting in that tub! I would always splash and play for a while and then Mama Bea would come down with a towel to get me out and dry me off.
After my “swim” we usually had a tea party of Pepsi and saltine crackers with butter, or we colored and drew pictures. Most mornings, she would let me help her water her plants. I loved these Saturday mornings…I think you would have loved them too!♦
