As a kid back in the Sixties I enjoyed having a garden. It was basically an outdoor playroom full of trees and soil.
One thing I used to love doing was messing around with mixtures, liquids and lotions in the garden, as there was bags of space to get as messy as possible.
My earliest concoctions were born out of two things: my limited Merit chemistry set and a desire to inflict pain on my big brothers.
Extending the range of my chemistry set, I looked further afield and delved into the kitchen cupboard, the store under the sink and the shed. Here I would find food, cleaning stuff and garden chemicals, the very essence of junior alchemy!
Mixing various substances together with fell purpose I would aim to produce a cocktail so vile smelling and unappealing to observe that my older brothers would come to know its true nature. Once perfected my gunk would be carried into the garden and poured onto the seat of the swing and along the vertical chains, where my siblings would sit and hold on. You can imagine the dramatic affect my foul gloop would have on at least one of them. Needless to say, retribution was swift and harsh!
My second area of garden concocting can be summed up in one classic kids phrase: mud pies. I adored making them and utilised all manner of receptacles in which to serve them. My favourite combination was a dollop of fresh wet mud which I would spoon onto a thick large leaf. The leaf could be folded to make a sandwich or left open acting rather like an evergreen plate.
These leaves were plucked from a bush at the top of the garden and were lime green in colour and mottled with black spots. They had a waxy feel to them and when chucked into a fire they crackled and popped like a gatling gun. I think they were a form of holly and my holly delights were best served from my den near the garage with a beaker of soily water!
What deep mud pie joy!
Did you make pies and potions in the garden readers?
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