HOP SING'S GARDEN
By:
Lynne G.
It was early spring on the Ponderosa, but in the upper area's of this huge ranch it still looked like winter with a lot of snow still on the ground. Snowstorms would blow in from time to time and that would add to the already snow covered ground. In a few more weeks most of that snow would be melted and the summer grazing meadows would soon be full of fresh green grass for the large herds of Ponderosa cattle. There would also be several ponds full of fresh water from the recent melted snow.
Soon it would be time for Ben Cartwright, his oldest son, Adam and the Ponderosa hands to move the cattle herds from their winter pastures to their summer pastures.
While the herds were being moved, Ben's middle son, Hoss, who was twelve, would be at school, but if need be, he could help with the herds. Hoss was very large for his age and very strong as well. Hoss could easily do a man's job even though he was still a boy.
Ben's youngest son, five year old Little Joe would be at home in the care of Hop Sing, the family's cook, housekeeper, and honorary member of the Cartwright family.
Hop Sing
had been with the Cartwrights since Ben, Adam and Hoss first came to the
Ben's third wife, Marie, the mother of Little Joe got along great with Hop Sing. She was also a wonderful mother to Adam and Hoss as well. After Marie's sudden death about two and half months ago, Hop Sing helped take over the care of Little Joe for which Ben was very greatful for.
One day Hop Sing knew it was time to start to get the garden ready for planting all the vegetables that the family would need. He and Little Joe got the garden tools together and headed for the large garden area off to the side of the house.
" Time for little boy to help Hop Sing get garden ready to plant," Hop Sing told Little Joe. " Kay, Hop Sing. Whats we doin' fust?" asked the little boy as he followed Hop Sing to the garden. " First we get weeds out of ground, then we hoe the dirt, and then we plant vegetables," said Hop Sing.
" Whats 'hoe'? Sanna says HO, HO, HO. I's dat da same fing as Sanna says, HO, HO, HO ?" chanted the little boy with the big bright green eyes, as he stood in the garden. " Why you chanting, HO, HO, HO?" questioned Hop Sing. " Ya saided dats we's gotta HO," said the little boy looking up at Hop Sing. Hop Sing tried not to laugh, but he couldn't help it, and he started to laugh. Then he looked down at the puzzled look on Little Joe's face, and he said," It not HO, HO, HO. It hoe, with this hoe," he said as he held up a hoe for Little Joe to see. Little Joe stood there looking at the hoe, and he got a big grin on his face, and he said, " Dats a hoe, huh? Sanna dunt gots one of dem," he said as he took the hoe from Hop Sing.
After Hop Sing showed Little Joe how to use the hoe, the two of them got to work. Little Joe chanted, " HO, HO, HO," as he hoed the garden. The hoe of course was taller than the little boy, and Hop Sing couldn't help but smile at the the sight of his curly haired little imp trying so hard to hoe the garden. They worked hard all morning.
" It time for lunch. We plant garden tomorrow," said Hop Sing. " Imma hungwee Hop Sing," Little Joe told Hop Sing. " That good. We go wash up now, and I get lunch ready. Then you take nap," Hop Sing told Little Joe. " Kay, but does I gotta hab a nap?" asked Little Joe. " Yes, Papa says little boy need nap after lunch. Little boy look very tired. You work hard in garden. Need nap," Hop Sing said.
Little Joe almost fell asleep while eating his lunch, so Hop Sing took him up to his room. Once Little Joe laid down on his bed, Hop Sing took the little boys' boots off and then he covered up the child who had already fallen asleep.
When Ben and Adam had returned from checking the cattle herds, they had put their horses in the barn, and as they were getting ready to walk out the barn door, Hoss rode into the yard from school. " Hi Pa, Adam," greeted Hoss with a big smile on his face. " Hi to you too son. How was school today?" asked Ben. " The same. It was OK," Hoss said.
During dinner that night Ben looked over at his youngest son, and he said," Little Joe, did you help Hop Sing in the garden today son?" " I's sure did Papa. I's ho, ho ho'd," said the little boy with a big smile on his face. Ben, Adam and Hoss looked at the curly haired boy with puzzled looks on their faces. " Ho, ho ho'd?" questioned Ben. " Yup. Hey Papa, did ya know dats hoein' in da gwaden is a diffunt ho, ho hoin' den Sanna does?" said an excited bright eyed child. Adam, Hoss and Ben got big smiles on their faces, and they tried not to laugh at Little Joe's explanation of garden hoeing and Santa's ho, ho, hoing.
" Sweetheart, what is the difference in the two kinds of hoe-hoing's?" asked Ben. " Well Papa, it's wike dis. In a gwaden ya hoe hoe hoe wiv a funny wookin' fing on da end of a stick. Sanna shouts, HO, HO, HO!! When Hop Sing asked me ta hoe da gwaden, I stood dar and shouted HO, HO, HO ! Ain't dat sompfing, Papa?" said the little boy. " WOW, Little Joe, I didn't know that," said Hoss, looking surprised, as he winked at Adam and Ben. " Hoss, ya weawee dunt knowed dat?" questioned Little Joe. " Nope, sure didn't Punkin. How bout you Adam, did ya know that?" asked Hoss. " Gosh, no I didn't," Adam said, acting very surprised. " It looks like you really learned something very interesting didn't you son?" asked Ben. " I's sure did," Little Joe said.
The next
morning after breakfast, Hop Sing and Little Joe again headed back out to the
garden to plant all the vegetable seeds. As they started with the
carrots, Little Joe looked at the seeds and shook his head," Hop Sing, dees ain't no cawats.
Cawats is oange.
Finally all the carrots, peas, beans, corn, potatoes, cucumbers and squash had been planted. Hop Sing took the time to show Little Joe all the different kind of seeds for all the vegetables, and that really impressed the little boy.
Over the next several weeks, the vegetable plants were growing big. Everyday Little Joe wanted to help water the garden with Hop Sing, and everyday he asked Hop Sing when the vegetables would ready, even though Little Joe didn't really like to eat vegetables, he liked to watch them grow.
" Little Joe, please go get eggs for Hop Sing, so we can make some cookies," Hop Sing asked. " Kay, Hop Sing," Little Joe said. The little boy went out to the chicken pen, and into the hen house to get the eggs for Hop Sing. " Kay, ya chickens, dunt chase me pweaze. I's gotta gets dees eggs ta make cookies, and maybe if'n ya dunts chase me, I's gib ya cookie," Little Joe told the hens. After he had got the eggs, he walked out of the hen house, and into the chicken pen, when out of nowhere the rooster came running towards the little boy. " GO AWAY YA STUPID WOOSTA !LEAB ME AWONE ! I'S AIN'T GOONA GIB YA NO COOKIE!" yelled Little Joe as he ran from the pen, closing the gate behind him. Hop Sing had been watching out the window and he had to laugh at what he had seen.
" Here ya go Hop Sing. Dem chickens was good and day dunt chase me, but dat stupid woosta always chases me. Ya need ta cook him Hop Sing. ," said a very serious Little Joe. " No can cook rooster. Need rooster to keep hens safe," said Hop Sing. That didn't make Little Joe one bit happy.
It was now getting towards mid-August, and Hop Sing's garden was looking like a masterpeice of perfect looking vegetables.
One day Hop Sing told Little Joe that he could help him make some scare crows for the garden. Little Joe wasn't too sure about this, since he didn't know what a scare crow was, but he helped anyway.
" Hop Sing, dees fings scare me. Why does day gots ta scared a co fo?" asked the confused little boy. " Crows and other birds eat vegetables, and Hop Sing doesn't want birds to vegetables," Hop Sing told Little Joe. " Hop Sing, I' dunt wike begetabos, so day can hab my begetabos," Little Joe said with a smile on his face. " Little boy need to eat vegetables to grow strong. They good for you," Hop Sing said. " Gee Hop Sing, ya sounds just wike Papa now," stated Little Joe. " Father very smart man. He know what number three son need," said Hop Sing.
When all the scare crows were finished, Little Joe helped Hop Sing carry them out to the garden. After Hop Sing had the scare crows in their places in the garden, Little Joe stood there looking at them from a distance, since he didn't trust them at all. " Hop Sing do day gotta stand up all da time? Where does day sweep at night? What does day eats?" asked the puzzled child. " Scare crows not sleep. They stand watch over the garden and keep birds out. They don't eat either," Hop Sing told the child. " Dunt day gets hungwee, and dunt day gets tiwed of standin' all da time?" asked Little Joe. " No, they are not real. Don't get tired or hungry," said Hop Sing. " Hum. Dat ain't no fun bein' a scared co," the child said. Little Joe was afraid of those scare crows though.
That night, Little Joe dreamed about scare crows. " GO AWAY! LEAB ME AWONE ! GO AWAY SACRED CO'S ! GO AWAY BUDIES ! NO NO NO !" yelled the child as he was tossing and turning in his bed.
Ben, Adam and Hoss ran into Little Joe's room. " Joseph, Little Joe, son, wake up sweetheart, it's alright. Papa's here," Ben said as he picked up his crying and sacred little son. " Papa, da scared co's was afta me. Make em go away," cried Little Joe. Adam and Hoss stood there listening to waht their baby brother was talking about. " Scared co's?" questioned Hoss. Adam smile and said," Yup. I think he thinks scare crows are after him." " Oh, I see," said Hoss.
" Shh, Little Joe, you had a bad dream. No one is after you sweetheart," Ben told his baby son softly as he rubbed the child's back. Hoss, Adam, why don't you two go back to bed. Little Joe is going to be fine. Just a bad dream is all," Ben said. As they left their little brother's room, they said,' good night' to their father and little brother.
The next morning after breakfast, Ben took Little Joe out to the garden to show him that the scare crows couldn't hurt him, and that they weren't real. Little Joe still didn't trust them though.
Everyday, Little Joe helped Hop Sing pick vegetables, so Hop Sing could can some of them, so that he and the family could eat vegetables through out the coming fall, winter and into next spring. A lot of the vegetables were also put into the root cellar where they could be kept in a cool, dry and dark place.
Hop Sing also had a large berry patch that had blackberries, raspberries, loganberries, blueberries, and strawberries. Hop Sing also canned some of the berries, so he could make pies and cakes with them. He also made lots of jams and jellies too. Next to the berry patch were some wild blackberries that the family, especially Little Joe loved to eat fresh.
They also had a small fruit tree orchard that had several apple trees, a pear tree, a cherry tree, both sweet cherries, and a pie cherry tree, and a peach tree. The fruit that wasn't canned, was stored in the root cellar.
One of the nice things about having different kinds of fruit trees, was all the fresh fruit to eat. Little Joe loved apples the most, and he especially loved them while they were still on the sour side. Almost everyday the very active little boy would go out to the apple trees to check on the size of the apples. When they were finally the right size, the little boy would pick one and eat it. " Oh, still a widdle souwa, but its good," So he ate two or three small apples.
As he got ready for his afternoon nap, he started to get a stomach ache. " Papa, I's dunt feel so good. My tummy huts," Little Joe told Ben. Ben put his hand on the child's forehead to check for a fever, and he was pleased at not finding one. " OUCH, IT HUTS PAPA !" cried Little Joe.
Ben asked him what all he had eaten, and Little Joe said," wunch, and some appoes." " Apples? They aren't ripe enough yet son. How many did you eat?" asked Ben. " Uh, two er fwee," Little Joe said as he held up three fingers, but he suddenly took off running to the outhouse. Ben sat there shaking his head and thinking to himself, "its the apples."
Finally when Little Joe came back into the house, he announced that he felt much better. Hop Sing handed him something to drink for his stomach. After he drank the glass of medicine, he made a face at the awful taste, and said," dis is yucky tastin' Hop Sing !" " It suppose to be. No more eat green apples till ripe," Hop Sing told the child as he took the glass from Little Joe, who was still making funny faces.
Another day, Little Joe decided to play a joke on Hop Sing, so he snuck out to the garden to where the carrots were planted. He pulled up four carrots out of the ground that were just the right size, and he took them over to the pump and he washed them. He ate the carrots, which he loved raw, rather than cooked. After he had eaten his four carrots, he ran back to garden and he put the green carrot tops back in the gorund. He did this everyday.
Later that afternoon, Hop Sing went out to the garden to get some carrots for dinner that night. As he was gathering up some carrots, he noticed that several of them didn't have carrots on the stalks. " Hump, very strange. No carrots, just greens," he said outloud. He couldn't figure out what had happened to the carrots. He had never noticed anything like that before. He stood there scratching his head while mumbling in Chinese.
At dinner that night he told the Cartwrights about the missing carrots. " That's interesting. I wonder what happened to them?" asked a puzzled Ben. " Not know. They just gone," said Hop Sing who was still very confused about the missing carrots.
After this had happened several more times, Hop Sing was even more confused. One day Hop Sing and Ben were outside talking and unseen by the little carrots thief, Ben caught some movement out of the corner of his eye. He motioned for Hop Sing to look in the direction of the garden, and they both stood there and watched as the little carrot theif took three carrots, and headed for the pump to wash the carrots. The thief ate the carrots, then headed back to the garden and he put the carrot tops back in the ground.
" Why that little imp!" said a shocked Ben. " Little boy steal carrots?" Hop Sing softly said. " Sure looks that way Hop Sing. Just wait till I get my hands on that little bottom of his," said Ben. " NO Cartlight, maybe we play joke on little boy," suggested Hop Sing. " Are you sure Hop Sing?" asked Ben. Hop Sing nodded.
After
dinner, Hop Sing announced that more carrots were missing. " Why would someone take our carrots?" asked
Hoss. " I don't know son," answered Ben.
Ben had told Adam and Hoss about their baby brother taking the carrots, so they
were also in on the joke. " You know Pa,
" Papa,
how does day gets dem cawot
feeves?" asked a scared Little Joe. " Well son, seems like
Adam and Hoss got up and went out to the kitchen with Hop Sing and they laughed. " Did you see THAT look on little brothers' face?" asked Adam. " Ser did," laughed Hoss. " I think little boy now stop stealing carrots," said Hop Sing with a big smile on his face.
The next day, Little Joe slowly walked into the kitchen to find Hop Sing. " Hop Sing," yelled Little Joe. " What you want?" asked Hop Sing. Little Joe walked over to Hop Sing, looked up at him, and he softly said," I's sawee fer steawin' cawots. I's was ownwee pwayin' a joke on ya. Pweaze dunt take me ta jawo. I's wunt neber steaw cawots again. I's pwomus," and he started to cry.
Hop Sing looked down at the very sad looking little boy, smiled and said," Hop Sing not put number three son in jail. No more take carrots from garden without asking. Hop Sing not mad at little boy no more." He put his arms around Little Joe and gave the child a big hug. " I's wuv ya Hop Sing," Little Joe said as he looked up at his friend. " Hop Sing love little boy very much too. Now you help get vegetables out of garden for dinner," Hop Sing.
Little Joe helped Hop Sing gather some potatoes, beans and an onion. They headed back to the kitchen to wash the vegetables. After the vegetables were washed, Hop Sing gave Little Joe a glass of milk and some cookies.
Before dinner that night, Little Joe confessed to Ben that he was the carrot thief. Ben was proud of his son for confessing. He told his little son that he should never take things without getting permission before.
The family also had a smoke house that was near the garden. There was a good supply of hams, bacon, venison, pork, chicken, turkey and beef that was all neatly stored.
On Thursday morning, Hop Sing and Little Joe went out to the garden to pick cucumbers. " Hop Sing, we's gonna pick da picko's now?" asked the little boy. " Not pickles yet, just cucumbers," said Hop Sing, as he smiled at the little imp who was looking at the cucumber in his little hand. " Dis dunt wook wike no picko. Too hoded," said the child with a very puzzled look on his sweet little face. Hop Sing explained that you have to make pickles after the cucumbers are picked. " Hop Sing make special brine with water, spices and vinegar. Then put washed cucumbers in jar, and pour brine over cucumbers in jar. When jar full, put lid on jar and let sit a long time. Then they pickles," Hop Sing told Little Joe. " Oh, can I's hep ya make dem picko's pwaeze?" asked the child. " Little boy help Hop Sing," said Hop Sing.
Hop Sing put the jars in water to boil that would sterilize the jars. He had Little Joe put all the cucumbers in pans according to their size, after they were all washed.
Hop Sing had made up all the brine that would be needed to cover all the cucumbers. After all the jars were ready, Hop Sing and Little Joe put some cucumbers of each size into the jars.
Little Joe was concentrating so hard on putting the cucumbers in the jars, that he had his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth. After all the cucumbers were in the jars, Hop Sing poured the brine into each jar until all the cucumbers were covered. Then he put the lids on the jars.
" Now we listen to lid to make a pop sound. That means lids are sealed and all air out of jars. When that done, we take jars down to the root cellar and wait for cucumbers to be pickles. Thank you little Joe for helping Hop Sing make pickles," Hop Sing said to Little Joe. " Fank ya fer weddin' me hep ya Hop Sing. Dat was fun," said Little Joe as he gave Hop Sing a big hug.
" Papa, guess whats I did taday? I's hepped Hop Sing make pickos!" said a very excited Little Joe. " That's wonderful Little Joe. Did you have a good time making pickles?" asked Ben. " I's sure did Papa. Day's in da woot cellwa now tunin' into pickos. explained Little Joe.
" Mr. Cartlight, little boy big help in garden. He work hard and do everything Hop Sing tell him to do. He good little boy," Hop Sing proudly told Ben. " Thank you for telling me this , Hop Sing. I really appreciate it. I'm very proud of him for helping you all spring and summer in the garden," Ben said feeling so proud of his baby son.
The garden that summer was the finest garden that Hop Sing had ever grown. There was more than enough vegetable, fruit and berries for the Cartwrights and Hop Sing that would last well into the following summer.
Hop Sing
and Little Joe took all the extra vegetables, fruit and berries into
Little Joe was especially happy because he got to help make the garden produce the best crops ever. It made him feel like a big boy now.
THE END of part one.
FOOTNOTE: The idea for the little carrot thief was fun, because my brother, cousin Paul Jr, and I use to do this same thing in my parents garden. We had great fun with the carrots.
The eating of the green apples was also something that my brother, our 48 first cousins and I use to do as well at our gramma's place. Her garden, fruit tree's and berry patch was my idea for Hop Sing's garden. There was also a large area full of wild blackberies too, and when the berries were ripe, that's is where we all could be found, with berry juice all over us.