This Saturday at the National Arboretum's Youth Garden, it rained. A lot. And it started at the exact moment that I exited the metro to begin my 2.6 mile walk to the garden.
That's alright, it was fine--I was wet, I'd get over it. I did. We were weeding, chatting, 
mostly weeding--I found a nice lemon mint plant (lemon balm? It looks like mint to me!) that I took home and have rooting in the pot with the spearmint and lemon geranium.
When it started lightninging and thundering, the Garden Coordinator (who runs us volunteers and deals with the kids as if he likes it) mandated that no metal object be in the field--we brought the trowels, hoes, wheelbarrows, etc. all back to the shed. I didn't think that meant we were done weeding, but after a really loud thunder and heavier rain, it did.
So, the couple of volunteers who actually showed up that day ended up hanging out in the shed. There was talk
of having a pizza and some wine delivered, or maybe someone was going to bring in a stash for such occasions.
While we were all huddling in the shed (soaked through anyway, but at least we wouldn't get hit by lightning), the wild came to reclaim the human-wrought wonder that is the Youth Garden. A rampaging turtle plowed its way through pepper seedlings, over and through them to get into the tomatoes, at which point I grabbed it by the shell to move it out of the seedlings and it started scratching at me with its legs. Which reminds me, I forgot to wash my hands before eating lunch that day. Huh. Well, if I get a disease, I'll be sure to let you know.
Turtle Power
