PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — For close to six months, Ava Henderson of Presque Isle has eyed a small patch of ground outside her home with her 6-year-old daughter, Brooke. Two years ago, Henderson had considered installing a small greenhouse there so that her family could eat fresh vegetables all winter long and so she could try her hand at growing rare house plants. That was until her best friend lent her a book that her own daughter thoroughly enjoyed.
“The book was called, “Lola Plants A Garden,” and it was pretty self-explanatory,” said Henderson, laughing. “The girl in the book and her mother plant a garden, and my daughter and I read that together at least five times. Soon after we read the book, the questions about whether we could build a garden began. That is when I knew that I should at least try this garden thing for at least a year. If she didn’t like it, I could always cover it up and put the greenhouse on top of it.”
Even though there is still some snow on the ground, Henderson said that she and her daughter already were looking out the window and visualizing the garden.
“We were into Wal-Mart the other day and we always stop by the magazines,” she said on April 11. “So of course she just gravitated to the garden section and we came home with two magazines. She has started to dog-ear a bunch of pages that are her favorite.”
While they won’t be spending thousands of dollars to recreate the images in the magazine, according to Henderson, “in a few weeks, once the mud clears up, we will be out there, digging our flower patch.”
