What if Santa Claus were a gardener like us?
Here’s what I would ask him to give me for Christmas.
Dear Santa, I know you’re busy and have many gifts to deliver this year, but this is what I want for Christmas.
Firstly, would you please tell everyone that pesticides are poisonous and they kill life and that hurts Mother Earth and pesticides are very dangerous for young children like me. Why am I asking you for this gift? Mainly because my mom and dad and their generation were brainwashed when they were young by sophisticated and seductive marketing that led them to think that without pesticides the world would be overrun by insects. Those same insects it turns out are needed for people to survive and to keep Mother Earth healthy. I also think that if someone like you, who everyone loves and respects, would tell parents how dangerous pesticides are, they might listen.
Secondly, I want you to drop some mulch in every garden, even for the people who don’t understand that mulch is good for the soil and all the plants that live there. If you could put some mulch in everyone’s garden, then people would not have to spend their busy days weeding and they would not have to use poisonous herbicides to kill beautiful dandelions and other pretty weeds. Those weeds don’t know they are not supposed to grow in everyone’s garden, so it’s not their fault, really. And it turns out that many of those pretty weeds give food to all of the good bugs.
Thirdly, if you would please drop a letter in everyone’s mailbox, because I don’t know if you have email, and tell everyone that all trees should be loved and cared for. It seems that my dad and many other dads are always going into the garden to cut down trees and I don’t understand why. My mom tells me that some trees don’t behave the way people want them to, so Dad goes out and cuts off some branches or cuts down the whole tree. My friend Jonny’s dad does the same thing in his garden and so does Jenny’s dad. I asked my mommy, “Why don’t people just plant a nice tree that behaves the way they want it to?” Mommy said, “People are not always willing to listen or to respect things they should.”
Fourthly, if you would please give everyone a new package of vegetable plant seeds in their Christmas stocking so they can grow some food in their garden. I don’t know how, but Daddy tells me that the way people grow food on farms and in greenhouses has become unsafe and he’s worried about feeding me fruits and vegetables from those places. Daddy says that if we grow food in our own garden we can be sure of what is used to grow the food and what’s in our soil, so we can eat healthy and not have to worry. It’s kinda funny because now I see that lots of my friends have vegetable gardens instead of lawns in their yards. I guess if the people who run the world won’t listen to what everyone wants, then the smart people will do things for themselves.
Daddy also says that we buy organic food because it’s better to eat than food grown with poisonous pesticides. I also asked Mommy if organically grown food has more good things in it than the other food. Mommy said, “Organically grown food sometimes has a similar nutritional value to conventionally grown food but we choose it because no dangerous pesticides are used to grow organic food and that’s healthier for our bodies.”
I know if you could give those gifts this year, Santa, then Jonny, Jenny and me could go play in the shade of those lovely big trees, maybe snip a veggie or two from Jonny’s garden and not have to worry about getting poisonous pesticides on our little shoes or on our delicate and fragile little hands.
Love from Toddy Major.
P.S. Santa, I hope your garden is growing good things for you and the reindeer to eat.
Toddy Major is just a kid who wants to make the world better place. [email protected]
