The Coach Garden

Every human being, since the very foundation of time, has had an innate desire to till the soil; to grow the fruit of their own hands; to plant, water, cultivate and harvest the produce of God's great bounty for their own family table. I, Ken DeWalt, nearly retired pastor of Hope Church and planter of a few seeds of the Heavenly nature have had such agricultural desires myself.  I have known years of several bright early springs in which I roto-tilled my green yard to plant marigolds which I was sure had been tomatoes; summers where I hoed up pumpkins I thought were weeds midst the corn; and autumns when I was all too happy to plow under the garden and plant grass in the plot again.

Now, as Mona and I get closer, day by day, in this new spring of 2014, to venture out upon the endless highways of our great North American Continent that same compulsion to plant, addiction to grow SOMETHING, overtakes my weak heart again and I succumb to the need, even while living several feet above the tarmac, to 'take care of God's garden' (Genesis 1:29, sort-of).

And so is born, out of this, our shared human primeval core, the Alpine Coach Garden. Or as the Stauffer's of Kissel Hill Lititz Store Greenhouse Manager told me yesterday when I made my auspicious purchase, "At least you won't need a barn to store your harvest."

 And so convenient is this single potted golden mini cherry bush tomato plant! It will produce well at a maximum of 24 inches. It may be pruned to a small 12" in width.  And best of all, it will serve as a welcome to all visitors who come to the coach just outside our triple latch double door and automatic slide out step and beside the electric motor driven screw drive generator housing bay. How positively romantic!


And when the morning calls us to once more take up our jacks, roll in our slides, lower our antenna and depart for new places as yet unknown, this brave and bountiful potted miracle of the good green earth will fit neatly on our bottom entry step, covered from harm by the electric step slide cover Mona will activate to produce a floor for her weary feet before we get to the next interesting town, camp site, or church parking lot.

There, in the midst of all our metallic rolling home-i-ness we shall once more set out our much loved Coach Garden to absorb yet more sun, rain, and healthy bacteria with which to grow our tiny morsels of warm golden candy.

Unless, as in all too many of my life's garden mis-adventures, it dies.

Hey! No need to plant grass this fall then, 'eh?

-Ken