Gardening With The Fifth Grade

We were holding life in our hands.  

The scholars knew about the placenta and the umbilical cord and and how each one of their classmates, no matter how big or tall, started out as teeny tiny sperm and egg.  They just didn't relate it to the Shoestring Acacia (Acacia stenophylla) seed pods, 

opened and slimy or dried and fascinating

in their hands.  

They were surprised by my explanation.  Once they realized that I was serious, they held the seed pods a bit more reverentially.  The protective outer coating, hard to crush and hard to pry open, but full of wonders once you got inside, was like growing a human in a womb. 

That's a root and  the white seed and the xylem and phloem and all the material and  energy needed to grow a 30' tree - packed into the juicy green pod siting in your palm.  

It's such a tiny little space, and you were once in a similar tiny little space and yes, you are holding life in your hand.  We were having a moment, thinking about our place in time and the inter-connectedness of living things and that we were holding life in our hands.

We separated and named the parts, 

and some of the scholars, after promising to water as needed, planted theirs in pots or in the hanging baskets.  Before they left, the remnants were displayed on the edge of the raised bed,.

It was a lovely morning.  It felt normal.