Cover Story

Joseph Thomas is a native of Grubbs, a graduate of ASUN and owns and runs Eye On Magazine with his powerhouse wife, Kimberlee. He is the graphic designer, editor and one of the various writers of this publication. He is elevated by five children, four grandchildren and is trying to waste less time everyday writing the next great novel.

Myra Wood’s Colorful Covid Garden

The Wood family has filled our pages often in our ten years of monthly publications. From Myra’s collection of Savory Pans and Scott’s Wood Dealership renovations and advertising to their children and their homes or new leadership positions in the Independence community.

Every story is filled with the color of a beautiful local family and their interesting way of doing things their own way. This story is no different. This is the tale of Myra’s Colorful Covid Garden and how it came to be!

Myra has studied infectious diseases her entire career and has a great respect for microbes. She has read everything from Frank Slaughter’s fictional Epidemic to John Barry’s The Great Influenza, plus countless scientific papers.

“In January,” Myra told me, “I started looking for a way to come out of retirement & help. To my delight in March I was hired by WRMC to work in their Incident Command Center. I worked almost 3 weeks & then due to the cataclysmic affect of Covid & the shut down I was furloughed. I understood but I was sad to not be making a contribution. I had my usual Red Cross Disaster Health Services volunteer work which is done virtually anyway but it is not really related to the pandemic. So I turned my energies to the garden.”

She didn’t garden in 2019 due to some torn tendons and the surgeries that brought on. She also had a hand dermatitis that photo therapy cured for her. “As a result of over a year of neglect, the garden was a complete jungle in the spring of 2020,” Myra added. “It felt like the chaos of the world. There were 2 dozen huge poke salad plants & hundreds of box elder trees that had sprouted. I was daunted. I wasn’t sure I was even going to tackle it.”

You can tell why she felt so daunted when you see the state of over growth of the before pictures.

“Scott donates to John 3:16 so he kindly got them to come help clear out the overgrowth. I might never have conquered it without their help. Then the planting began. I planted way too

“Perhaps you can see why I felt so daunted.”

“This is my friend Lazelle. I made her so I would not always be alone in the garden. Plus she can’t talk back.”

“This is a sitting area where I can sit and watch my chickens or my garden, usually late evening.”

“I’ve had some guests and some pests. The chickens love the cabbage loopers and other insects that I find.”

“The meals have been pretty great too.”

much but there was no where else to go and nothing to do. So I planted.

“I had painted the chicken coop inside and out, and the inside of the garden shed several years ago. When the planting was done I turned to painting everything! Since it has become my Colorful Covid Garden.”

In true COVID-19 fashion, Myra sent me these images and text via her phone. We want to thank her for submitting her quaranteen experience and this lovely garden that makes her happy. N