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The following story developed as a collaboration between my daughter and myself. There’s a certain creative chemistry we have going between the two of us. It unifies the spontaneity of youth with the philosophic reflection of middle age. The theme of a child who won’t eat her vegetables touches on the universal, but the story also explores our own family’s particular way of dealing with it.
Once upon a time there lived a girl about nine
For this finicky eater it was no fun to dine
With vegetable products she had reservations
All packaged in plastic to last generations
Shipped around the world and separately wrapped
From places so distant they hadn’t been mapped
The plastic is bad, but what bothers her more:
How the veggies are sprayed before reaching the store
Even when zucchini’s been thoroughly ground up
She just can’t get over the flavor of Round Up®
So when daddy’s leek soup makes its way to the table
She says, You all can eat it, I’m simply not able
Bread made at home was her number one source
Of vitamins, calories and flavor, of course
Dandelion salad was another delight
But it couldn’t keep her stomach from grumbling at night
So next week at the market she searched and she found
An old granny with veggies pulled straight from the ground
Unpackaged, unsprayed, and uncommonly fresh
No pears from Patagonia or peas from Marrakesh
The following week she returned once again
For a carton of eggs from the old lady’s hen
And timidly trying for the woman’s good ear
She asked, Are there any good seeds I can grow around here?
I see, said the farmer, it’s freshness you seek
As she turned to her hen to pluck a bean from its beak
The birds like them too, so you’ve got to be quick
And bury them well where the dirt’s dark and thick
And water them often, but don’t over do it
If the sapling keels over, you’ll know that you blew it
With a satchel of seeds and some seasoned advice
The girl hurried home and without thinking twice
She spotted a patch and she shoveled some rows
And today it’s a garden where everything grows
Cabbage and broccoli all thrive in the soil
And none of it tainted by nasty palm oil
Further reading
We always appreciate feedback from our readers, so feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section. And if you enjoyed “The Girl Who Wouldn’t Eat Her Vegetables”, you may also want to check out these other entertaining excursions.
