Interview with Linda Mealing

Omer Jean Winborn: Good afternoon, this is Linda Mealing. Would you mind stating your name for the recording?

Linda Mealing: Yes. My name is Linda Mealing.

Omer Jean Winborn: Thank you. Would you mind telling us what year and where you were born?

Linda Mealing: Okay. I was born in December the 7th 1949. I lived in the old village, which we call Willow Run, which was, is not a part of Ypsi. Willow Run doesn't even exist anymore.

[chuckle]

Linda Mealing: Even the school system, Willow Run doesn't exist anymore. Then I lived on Swansea Street where there were the homes that they had built in when, people were coming up to work in the factory. And that was one thing that my dad was from Tennessee and that's what brought him up here. He is a brick mason was in work and so we were pretty tight knit community. And, there is actually... They still have reunions just for those who grew up in that way and I really liked, maybe about 10 years ago they did a passing of baton that they called. And so all of the moms that helped raise the neighborhood, receive one. My mom received one, but we were... I was six when we moved into Ypsi. And so all my other, even till now, is Ypsi. I've never left and moved anywhere. I love home. My family is here. I love traveling, but I like coming back to home.

Omer Jean Winborn: Wow. And could you tell us the names of your parents?

Linda Mealing: Yeah.

Omer Jean Winborn: And how many siblings do you have or had?

Linda Mealing: Okay. So my dad's name is Bertel Franklin Gibbs and my mom's name is Sylvia Gibbs. My dad's from Tennessee and my 00:02:00mom’s from Louisiana. And I have two brothers and two sisters, so I'm in the middle.

Omer Jean Winborn: Okay. Thank you. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself generally about you, like where you went to school?

Linda Mealing: Okay. So in elementary I found out that I was pretty good at running.

[chuckle]

Linda Mealing: I enjoyed my classes and all and my classmates and stuff, but they had what they call field day. So I found out I was pretty good at running. So that's something that actually went up into my... I did until probably 1972 when I actually, I started working at Ford Motor Company and found out that they had a track team.

[laughter]

Linda Mealing: But, I'm short distance, not long distance, but most of the stuff is long distance now. But that became a big part of my life. I enjoyed doing it and I loved outdoors and I think that's what attracted me to wanting to be out in nature. But the attraction to gardening came from my dad. And when we moved from the old village, old Willow Run, he was looking for a home that had property 'cause he wanted property to farm. And here we found a place right there in the city of Ypsi, a half an acre deep. And so he was able to farm there. And then, also his neighbors, which were elders and they didn't do nothing with all that property and then he was able to use theirs. So, they volunteered and allowed him to use that property. So, we had pretty good garden. So those are two things that were...

Omer Jean Winborn: So let's back up a little bit.

Linda Mealing: Okay.

Omer Jean Winborn: And tell about your how your family came to this, to Ypsilanti. I heard you say that they came from Tennessee.

Linda Mealing: 00:04:00 Yep.

Omer Jean Winborn: And Louisiana.

Linda Mealing: Right.

Omer Jean Winborn: So why, what year and when and how did they come?

Linda Mealing: I'm not sure of the year. But my dad came for work. As I said, he was a brick mason. So he did a lot of... Built a lot of the buildings up at Eastern on some of the campuses and churches in the area. My mom at the time, I think, I guess I can remember her first job. She worked at University Hospital, but most of the time she was home with us or they worked different shifts. So we didn't have a babysitter that much. It was mostly mom and dad. And those special times that we had an aunt, our aunts and our uncles, and we all lived kind of close and helped one another out. But my mom, she didn't work always, wasn't a full-time job she had, she worked once in a while 'cause my dad, my dad did a lot of work.

Omer Jean Winborn: You said that you've lived here all your life, correct?

Linda Mealing: Yes.

Omer Jean Winborn: And all your siblings, everybody lived here all their life?

Linda Mealing: Right. I have a older stepbrother that came, my mom from her first marriage from Louisiana. And so my oldest... My sister is two years older than me, so she was born in 1947. But we were kind of as a family going over some things, but I think it might've been maybe he came here after the service or right around 1945 or maybe sooner. But that time I'm sure I knew we were here 'cause my sister was born in '47.

Omer Jean Winborn: Okay. Thank you. What's your earliest memory of growing food? If you feel comfortable sharing it? Like when you first started learning how to grow food? As early as you can remember.

Linda Mealing: Oh. [laughter] It's six years…when we... 'Cause that's how old 00:06:00we was when we came in '51 we came to our home there in Ypsi on River street. And that's when the gardening started. Before our family reunion visit to my grandma in Tennessee wasn't any farming. We would visit farms. We had family that lived on farms and we had family that raised pigs. But we didn't really get into it until my dad started his, and then he would... He taught us. And at first you think, oh, I don't wanna do this. But you know what, I learned to love it. I learned to love it. And the importance of it, and the importance of doing all the steps, what he taught. You can't just decide, oh, I'm gonna half do it. Then your crop isn't gonna be good. You have to learn the correct way to do it. And I'm always open to the new ways 'cause they sometimes can yield more, but it's learning. But I would say I was six. And actually, I still got one of my hoes that I used when I was probably, still in elementary.

Omer Jean Winborn: Oh wow.

Linda Mealing: I still have that. Yeah. And so for our younger generation that came up we had... We worked with young people age of eight this year, this summer for part of our intergenerational group.

Omer Jean Winborn: And you still use that?

Linda Mealing: And I still have that.

Omer Jean Winborn: Oh, that's wonderful.

[laughter]

Omer Jean Winborn: So was that one of the things that your dad showed you how to use?

Linda Mealing: Yeah. Just a regular little hoe.

Omer Jean Winborn: Yeah. And can you tell us more about any of the equipment that you used then as opposed to now when you're using...

Linda Mealing: Okay. The main tools, the hoe and the shovel and all that. It's not much different. You got different shape hoes on the end that you can dig into the ground a little bit better than back then. But most of the majority is the same. Now he had the rototiller. He would have someone come in 00:08:00and they with a big plow and they would plow the garden. And then after that use the rototiller. And today we still, we have the one that... A little small one that we can use in between the rows. And then I had one that was a little bit bigger, which I loved is what I grew up with. And that was just on borrowed time, so I had to go back. But we have a bigger one that we do that we can plow, plow the community garden with. So it's a little bit different, but not much, plow's a plow.

Omer Jean Winborn: Wow. So tell us a little bit more about the garden or the farm. Where was it that you had?

Linda Mealing: Okay. The one that I grew up in?

Omer Jean Winborn: Yes.

Linda Mealing: Okay. So the one I grew up in was at 18 North River. And like I say, it was a half an acre deep. And we were taught, when my dad would come home, he'd have us a little break, but we knew that we were gonna be working in our garden if that was the season. And we would work so long. But he always gave us time to be able to play a little while with maybe our neighbors, with the kids that lived close and to do our homework and just have a little bit of “our” time. But we knew that we were gonna be working in the garden. So it became a part, it was a part of just like going to school.

Linda Mealing: We knew that was gonna be a part of the day. And I just enjoyed it. I just really, really enjoyed it. My dad, I think the biggest things that he taught was that we had to be sure to do it correctly. The right depth that you put your seeds in. If you're doing potatoes, if you cut out one or two eyes for each one, make sure you put it so that the eyes are 00:10:00up so it starts growing in the right amount of time. And those are the little things that he taught me the importance of gardening. I was thinking from the last time that I came, I remember this one time I was... And I was a teenager by then. And this young man on the next block, he caught himself liking me. Well, he'd come over, he'd come over to visit and I was in the garden with my dad. And before I could say anything, I just said, "Hi". And kind of kept working. And my dad said, "Young man, if you come to visit my daughter, that's fine". But the visit don't start till she finishes in the garden.

Omer Jean Winborn: All right.

Linda Mealing: You're welcome to join her or otherwise you wait. And he left. And my dad looked at me and he said, “Lulu, he is not the one for you!”

[laughter]

Omer Jean Winborn: That's so funny.

Linda Mealing: Because my dad, to him, you always would know that you had priorities, necessities, and you had desires and wishes. But ones came before the other. And I'm glad I learned that lesson.

Omer Jean Winborn: Thank you so much for sharing that. That's wonderful.

Linda Mealing: 'Cause I think it really has helped me in making a lot of decisions in life. 'Cause we can want a lot of stuff. And as a young girl teenager, I want a lot. Like I said, I was running track, oh, I'm gonna go down in Tennessee. I'm gonna break records. But there were priorities. And by the time I got to that... At my grandmother, I was gonna stay with my grandmother, but she was not able... She wouldn't have been able to take care of me. Her health was failing and stuff. And God had a different plan. And I must say up to this point, I am not unhappy with his plans for my life.

Omer Jean Winborn: That's wonderful. I know you do 00:12:00a lot of work in the community around gardening and particular, linking people across generations, because you mentioned something earlier about generations. Can you tell us more about that work, and why you think intergenerational food growing is so important?

Linda Mealing: Yes. I think it's kinda, touched bases when I was talking about an older person and another female. The difference just in 10 years at how we looked at things, at how... And I think it's important that we teach the kids that just go to the store and get what you want. Well, how long did it take to get to that store? How fresh is it? What kind of nutrition value is in it? Then the point of just buying something to be buying, making better choices. And we were able to do that with our young people.

Linda Mealing: The intergenerational grant that we have is that, and that's what it does. It will pair up an adult elderly male or female with a younger person. And so during our time, not only teaching them in the garden and teaching them skills and teach them how important it is, we're sharing our lives. So we're sharing our lives and say, when I was your age, this is what we were doing. What do you do at your age? How's school going? Yesterday was kind of a rough day because this old body didn't want to do what I wanted to do, but to share them and know that not only they sometimes have struggles, but we have. 'Cause I think a lot of times some kids, and I thought, my kids at one point thought that mom did everything right. And everything was always good, but it wasn't. There's high and lows in life. And you have to learn to go with them.

Omer Jean Winborn: Yes. Thank you.

Linda Mealing: And I think for me, gardening also became a place that I could go to and I could meditate or just unwind. And so we try to teach the young people 00:14:00that too. And some of the elders that they had. And I said, have you ever thought about this to be a place that you could do that? Meditate and unwind. And I do a lot of praying in the garden, during that time. But working with them and showing them the differences. So this year, which was a little different from last year, we worked with kids. We had from 8 to 73 age-wise. Sometimes it was done as one-on-one, we would be teaching them, or sometimes we would go as a group. But our field trips, I think, were very important this year.

Linda Mealing: So we taught them how... We went to Growing Hope, learned the history, which I was a part when Growing Hope began. They helped start our garden in West Willow. And also was able to partner, when they put up their first big, what do they call it? Hoop? Hatch? No, not Hatch, I forgot, but their big barn. And, so I learned a lot. I learned a lot from them that I was able to come back and bring to the neighborhood. And to hear sometimes what they thought, about gardening, some of them at first it was, well, it's a lot of work. You got to pull weeds. And do all this stuff. And I said, but look what you get. Look what you get in the end. You get a fine vegetable. There's no... It was grown. We didn't add nothing to it. Didn't put any insecticides, anything on it. It was grown naturally. And that you can pick it and it can be fresh.

Omer Jean Winborn: That's wonderful. You shared so much about the impact that this has had on you. Can you tell us how this has impact our community, growing this food? How do you think it's impact our community?

Linda Mealing: I think it's impact our community in one particular way is that it is bringing the 00:16:00old and the young together to realize we do have some things in common, that we can work together. We are interested in what is going on in our young people's lives that we can be supportive even if we don't understand it. But if that's their interests or if we find that there's somebody else in the community that might have that business, Hey, you need to talk to so and so because that's their business and they could help you. So the intergenerational program not only has the gardening, but they also have... They taught them how to open a bank account, how to do a checkbook. What are you gonna do?

Linda Mealing: 'Cause they were given a stipend. What are you gonna do with that money? We found that some had to use it to help support their family. And some were able to use all of it and decide, oh, I'm buying my school clothes. And I'm sure that helped mom and dad. But the other thing that I found in some of our, going on trips, what we did, we started at Growing Hope, kind of see what an urban farm looks like. We took them to Detroit's farmer market to see the big, I knew they'd be overwhelmed 'cause I know I was overwhelmed. But to realize, look, there's farmers that are close that are doing this. And then we look at the price and I would tell them, okay, we're gonna go through all of it before we buy so that you can look at it and see if you like it, and you can see how the prices are and before you decide.

Linda Mealing: And they really enjoyed that. And then we also, we went out to... I can't think of the other one here. But they do community. They take in food from different places, some of the stores and all. And then they've helped with the school lunches and summer programs. 00:18:00Omer Jean Winborn: That's wonderful.

Linda Mealing: So all of that has come in, but now they can... Now they really not only hear it but they've seen it.

Omer Jean Winborn: Seen it.

Linda Mealing: They've experienced it. And, yeah. Just to see them. But especially when we went to farmer's market, it's like, Oh. [laughter]

Omer Jean Winborn: So how is growing and buying and preparing food different when you were young than it is now? What's the difference?

Linda Mealing: My parents, they didn't go to the store that much. So they did know the importance of raising your own food and gardening and all. So I wasn't really raised on a lot of commercial stuff out there, it was a lot of homemade. We canned, my mom canned. I canned up when my kids were younger, I was able to, that got passed on and I did can. And I think the importance of realizing to use all your resources. And so a community garden could be really important to a family that say resources as far as, hey, maybe the importance of money for school, starting school supplies, school clothes and all.

Linda Mealing: But yet there's other ways that they can cut and make everything work out. And that would be coming to the community garden and being able to pick fresh vegetables there and save. Say, I mean, we just we don't have no meat, but they get vegetables and herbs to use in some of their meat dishes and all, that's there. And not only just to come and get that, but if you come and there's another person in the community, then you get to talk to them. And sometimes you're the one 00:20:00that gives information and sometimes they're the ones that give you information. But it helps you to kind of get a better picture of what your community is like when you talk to different people and see what's happening maybe on their street compared to your street. So I think the community garden and reaching out to our young people and reaching out even to our elders, sometimes elders... We had an elder who had, didn't know anything about gardening. But was wanting to learn. And she was like, oh, I never knew that. And she says, yeah, that's very, very helpful.

Omer Jean Winborn: Wonderful. Now, where do you grow food now?

Linda Mealing: We have West Willow Community Garden.

Omer Jean Winborn: Okay.

Linda Mealing: That's on Tyler Road in the West Willow subdivision. The property does belong to the township. And we have a center there that was used for our neighborhood meetings. And so we have it there. That's where our community, our garden is at. And this year we to put a lot of... We put new dirt. We were able to get a new fence 'cause we needed it because we had some of the animals were digging in and they help us get rid of, we didn't want to, but they get rid of our very fresh, newest garden plants. That's what they wanted, when they're nice and tender.

[laughter]

Linda Mealing: And so this fence, hopefully, we kinda worked on it, our old one and used the same method. And it worked last year. So it should, it definitely looks better. And hopefully it will attract other people that can see. 'cause believe it or not, we've been there for quite a while and we have something to say, community garden? Oh, we have a community garden? So those are the kind of people we wanna connect in our community. And one way is through the young people, 00:22:00like I say, working. And we're right by the bus stop. The bus stop is right in front of the community center.

Omer Jean Winborn: So now you share that particular place to grow, your garden there. And why was that? Was it the land was available, or what are some of the reasons now?

Linda Mealing: The land was available.

Omer Jean Winborn: Okay.

Linda Mealing: And then it was like, it's almost in the center of the community. It's in a spot that anybody in community can come to. And I think it is a good spot just for that. But we wanted to bring the fresh fruits and, and I mean the fresh vegetables into our neighborhood to let people know what it is. We grow flowers too. We have some flowers. We incorporate all of 'em different places in, in the garden. One thing that we taught and talked about in our intergeneration group, gardening group was what are the natural things that are good? Like marigolds, marigolds keeps some varmints away. Just naturally, with not having to get some of the insecticides and stuff that they have now. And they look pretty. And they last all summer and all fall like...

[laughter]

Omer Jean Winborn: Yeah. They are pretty. When thinking about history behind land and farming and gardening, what comes to mind for you? The history of it.

Linda Mealing: The history of mine is it's been in our family, but I know I learned... A little bit that I didn't realize is that during the war and stuff, that women started a lot of gardening and it was to help meet ends. Because their husbands were gone. They were off to war. And it was a way of getting, being able to have food and everything that they needed 00:24:00. And that was the history part I didn't know. I didn't think about it. I guess I always thought men did it. Always started it, but in this case, found out, that it wasn't always the men, but women. That's probably where the herbs and everything came in.

[laughter]

Omer Jean Winborn: Right, right, right.

Linda Mealing: But that's a part of history that I learned. And on my mom being from Louisiana, she picked cotton. And she stopped working. She stopped school when she was in elementary and the reasoning was to help her family out.

Omer Jean Winborn: Right, right.

Linda Mealing: And so she began to cook and get lunches out to the workers that had come in from out of, out of state or out of town, or working in some of the bigger places. And so she learned that part about cotton. But yeah, she was a cotton picker.

Linda Mealing: That was a perfect example.

Omer Jean Winborn: And she said it was hard. It was not an easy job.

Omer Jean Winborn: Very hard that, so that's a history connection for you. Is there any other thing that inspired you? Did your dad also pick cotton or?

Linda Mealing: No. No. Like I say, he mostly, their family did farm and they did have animal farms, that they made money off of. But my grandma as far as I can remember, they owned a restaurant. Gibbs Cafe. That was in Carthage, Tennessee. And that's...

Omer Jean Winborn: Did they use vegetables from any of your gardens around there?

Linda Mealing: No. I don't think they did. I don't think they did. 'cause they mostly, it was like a fast food restaurant, so in a way...

Omer Jean Winborn: Oh, okay.

Linda Mealing: So it was hamburgers and I don't remember all 'cause at that age that's all I wanted was granddad to bring a hamburger to the back door and let me have it. I didn't...

[laughter]

Linda Mealing: 00:26:00We didn't go out and sit in the front and disturb those that were coming in were paying and stuff, the patrons and stuff, but my grandfather was one. He loved us all and that was when we would all go down at once. Sometimes, I think there must have been 25 of us between my cousins and my aunts and my uncles and in-laws. Oh, it was something, but there would be a lot of us, but he would still take the time, “I got to go to work now, but y'all come down and see me now. Y'all come down and see me,” and we would know that he was gonna feed us a hamburger or something, but that's all I can remember. Now, my grandmother... I think they had a few chickens and that was mostly that they used for cooking, but not like raising them, or for eggs or anything like that. And my dad eventually did get into have chickens and laying eggs in the city. Now people make a big deal of it now, but nobody's said anything had a problem when he had it right there in the city. Years, this would have been in the late '60s early '70s.

Omer Jean Winborn: You've done such a wonderful job expressing how you feel about gardening and growing food is there anything else you want to tell us about how you feel about it? You've done a wonderful job.

Linda Mealing: It's just a part. It's become a part of me and I don't know, I know one thing because of my healing because of my failing body here in some way is my health the problems and stuff is that I prayed that I would be able to still work my garden and He of course came right through with it 'cause it would be a big part, it would be a big part of my life that I would miss if I'm not able to. I have some days that I have to cut back on the hours or whatever but still it's a part of me, it's just like my belief in the Lord. It's a part of me that I would never want to 00:28:00depart from. My mom had a raised bed even when she was in her 90s, she still had a little garden.

Omer Jean Winborn: Oh wow.

Linda Mealing: Yeah.

Omer Jean Winborn: So yes, just being drawn to that. I can see that. And the difficulty you just explained about your body being able to produce, is there anything else that you find difficult, how about climate or weather or anything else? Particularly, this year.

Linda Mealing: I don't like the cold. [laughter]

Omer Jean Winborn: Yeah, so what happens in the winter, time what do you... What happens in the winter, nothing gets grown?

Linda Mealing: Okay. In the winter time, well I still I volunteer within the community. So, I do meals on wheels route and I take a little break but I'm back at that. We, our church, does a hope dinner once a month and I have a lot. I believe in standing up for a lot of things I believe in. I'm a pro-lifer so I believe in being out there and pro-life, and I think whatever it is in my life I can't just talk about or say I like it, there needs to be action behind it in some kind of way. If I'm not able to get out and get in the garden, it's not gonna stop me from sitting at a table and talking to young people about it, or showing them giving them information of how to make your garden better or how are you gonna use these, what kind of recipes are used and that was one thing this summer as part of the intergenerational program there that the grant. We were... We had what we call the celebration.

Linda Mealing: So it was West Willow community garden and then New Covenant Church that's also in West Willow, they had a garden also. And we combined, they brought stuff from their garden and cooked and so 00:30:00we had people come in some of those that were part of the grant and the township board we invited. There's five churches in West Willow so we invited a representative and the pastor from each church and we, we invited some of the community that we knew were active and interested in what was going on in our community. So, all of that was done and it was wonderful. We had a goal of maybe around 50 and we ended up with about 35, 37 I think had signed in and everybody enjoyed it. But at that day we had... I had pictures out of that the young people had taken during the summer. We had a bowl of fresh vegetables from the garden for anybody to take, and then we took the herbs and we made like a flower bouquet of it. No, we took either kale, we took the kale or we would take collards and made it and then we put some of the herbs in it and I told them that you know, they were able to use it to cook and it makes it smell good. [laughter] So we were able to showcase that part of the garden and reach out to more people just this summer. Yeah.

Omer Jean Winborn: Can you tell me if you feel any connection to your ancestors when you're gardening?

Linda Mealing: I do on my dad's side. I do because when we were... And when I say my dad had a garden and where he would use the property of my neighbors and all, and that was for him to have enough not only for us but for his sister and their families and all. And we were taught the importance of it and how it affected not only just my family, but my dad and the importance of it and to be able to reach out and help his family in that way. He was very proud 00:32:00of that. We were what we would call, in fact my kids now my kids my youngest is in his early 50s.

Linda Mealing: They were all able to be a part of, go out and buy 50-75 chickens and dress some and by dressing I mean, you're killing them, you're cleaning them up, you're getting 'em ready. They're ready to go in the freezer. And from the freezer they go to the table. And so they were able to be a part of that, but it was a way of my family me connecting with my aunts and my uncles 'cause we just have this long big old table out and everybody would have it, “Okay, your job is this. You're gonna pluck off the feathers,” and it was just an enjoyable day. And my mom and she was in for gardening and stuff but we kept we were younger we heard this about we're having a party but aunts and uncles are coming over and we were all day, “Oh, my aunts and uncles. We're gonna have a party.” Well, it was a bean party.

Linda Mealing: So we might have four bushels of beans that we had to snap. But we would just sit there and we would be taught. They would tell stories about way back when they were young or what was going on. And they would ask us...

Omer Jean Winborn: That is wonderful.

Linda Mealing: What are you doing? And that...

Omer Jean Winborn: Oh my goodness.

Linda Mealing: It was a connection. Definitely a connection.

Omer Jean Winborn: Do you still carry this tradition on at all with any of your children or any of your nieces or nephews? Is there anything like that?

Linda Mealing: Yeah. My kids because they're older but they were part of that. I used to do the summer program in our communities. So, when we first started out we had like we had 70, 80 kids in the summertime. And it was completely ran by other parents in the neighborhood or older siblings when we first started out. We did find out we had to reach out to the community like Washtenaw County Parks and Rec and parts of 00:34:00the rec center for the township and stuff would bring in. But I would tell them, it's not an excuse to say kids 'cause kids can't go anywhere. Bring it to them. Bring it to them. Let's have O'Brien and them come out with their animals and stuff. Let's have the firemen come in and tell them about this story. Let's have the police come in. And the kids really enjoyed it that they brought their dogs one time. And they they really enjoyed it. But I said we can bring a lot of the world into them without... And we had the grandparents that were there were a part of the program. And that all is connections. Not only just here, 'cause a lot of the kids says I've never been any place. I said well we can bring in, we're gonna bring in what we can.

Linda Mealing: Because I want you to be able to know you have a lot of choices. You have a lot of choices in life. And sometimes it's just to just get that spark going. And they might not even know they had that interest and all of a sudden, oh, I like that. But the young people, the kids that were in the program that worked and we did the garden twice a week during that, and they just, they loved it. They loved it. And mom would come pick them up. “Look, mom, I got a bag of vegetables we can cook tonight.” And they'd say, “I helped grow it. I helped grow it.” They were a part of it. There's that connection. It is not like [laughter] going into the stores and picking up a bag of beans. The connection you have is putting it in the pot and eating it, right?

Omer Jean Winborn: You said that so lovely growing food and how important it is to pass these traditions down. You just explained that wonderfully. And you also told us why. That's just wonderful. That's just a really warm wonderful feeling that it's important. And I like how you have the bean picking party. That's wonderful that... Oh my goodness. What do you think about values, 00:36:00traditions or lessons that are learned from growing food and gardening? Those things you explained, but passing those on, what else can you add to what, what you were saying? What else traditions and values can you add to that?

Linda Mealing: No, I think it, one of the basic things of it is the hope that you have in it. You don't expect to go out there day after day trying to get your vegetables to grow and stuff without an expectation. And to see it come alive as it's growing, to know that I planted it right. I followed what the seed directions or I planted the plant itself. Did I give it enough water? Did I make sure it got sun and all that, to become a part of it from the beginning to the end, I enjoy seeing that and I think the young people too, because they see that's some, hey, I didn't think I could do this but look what I did.

Linda Mealing: And it does, it connects them. And I hope that they will eventually learn to love, 'cause that was one thing said, well, what do you expect? Your young people, the people that come to be a part of the garden. I said, “I hope they learn to love it like I did. I hope they learn to love it. And it's of its importance.”

Omer Jean Winborn: So what would you like people who come after you, either your direct descendants or even people who are just listening to this in the future to learn from your growing experience? What would you like?

Linda Mealing: I guess I just would like them to know the importance and how much it can be a part of their lives. And a positive part. Because, not only you're learning, it meets a basic need, but you're learning patience. You're learning the importance of doing things in the order they need to be. You're learning a little bit about, you learn about what the plant needs. 00:38:00Okay? Well, you're gonna be a mom or dad one day. You're gonna have to know what your kids gonna need. But I think all of that adds up to making their lives richer. I really, really do. You could just take that and apply it so many times. I liked how you talked about how your dad had told you things. And like I said, my dad, he wasn't a big talker but he was one that wanted you to learn and learn to do it right. And the importance of it. And, you want, you got a job? Do it right. Don't just half do it, do it Right. Give it your best.

Omer Jean Winborn: Is there anything that you'd like to say to people who might be listening to this that we haven't asked you? Anything we didn't cover that you would like to talk about that we haven't asked you?

Linda Mealing: It's just that community is important. I mean, you have a house within that community. I've had people come up that and say, well, I'm not gonna be here very long. I'm not gonna get involved. But if you want your community to strive and you want your community to have the necessities and the things that they need you have to get involved. You need to get involved. You need to teach that to your children so that their generation as they go on, they become involved maybe in government or in something that's gonna help with their lives. And that, someone else that had that total control without knowing what your needs. So I like when we do surveys once a while to find out, what are the needs? What do you feel you're not getting in the community that we need? Because community is very, very important. You might end up seeing a community, like me, I moved from home to West Willow, and I haven't gone anywhere. I love West Willow.

Linda Mealing: We've had our problems in the past and we've met them. Okay, we don't like this. What can we do about it as township? 00:40:00How can you help us? We wanna make this a change. We want a better place to stay. We want an environment that we want our kids to grow up in and that they can learn what it is, really what is life about. It's not about just getting up, going to work, going to school. It's a whole lot, in between all of that, it's building character and building character that cares.

Omer Jean Winborn: Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Thank you.