Growing Up Green



 She collects bundles of sage, lavender, and rosemary and ties them together and hangs them to dry from an old pole she found in the yard. She finds succulents wherever she goes and knows she can snap off a little piece and stick in some soil and grow into a mighty plant. She knows their names. She takes little clippings and gently places them in little glass bottles and lines them up in the window.
 In the middle of it all, she has a beautiful collection of shells. Organized (as long as Hannah hasn't visited her room) by type, color, and size. I love to look at it. Beauty she's found in the world she walks.
 She tends her plants like she tends her chickens. She's figuring out the best light and temp and moisture.
 Amelia took her birthday money and went to Tallahassee Nurseries and bought cactus dirt mix and some plants and herbs and made containers out the back door.

 Her room is her green house. Dirt. Green. Grow. Learn. Being a kid. Our collector. Our girl -- growing up green.

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