We are all very aware by now that being green has taken hold of the American conscience. It is affecting different people in different ways. Some are planning errands to save gas while others are walking and biking more, using tote bags for groceries, or car pooling. We are combining the need to economize with a desire to preserve our environment.

This desire even affects the behavior of Madeline Langan, a 5-year-old who, this summer, announced that she wanted her own vegetable garden. Madeline has been helping her mother, Erin, garden since she was 2.

“I grew up on an acre of land in rural Iowa,” Erin said. “We were surrounded by farms, so gardening was a natural way of life. Living in Elmhurst has been quite a dramatic change, so it was important for me to have a garden to show Madeline where food comes from. I take her with me to the farmer’s market, too, because I want her to make a tangible connection.”

When Madeline made her request for a garden of her own, Langan decided to replace the sand in her 4-foot-by-8-foot sand box with soil, then helped Madeline grow some vegetables from seed while buying others at local greenhouses. Madeline spent the summer weeding, watering, and even singing and talking to her plants, and the result is a bumper crop of eggplant, beets, sweet peas, tomatoes and onions.

To make the whole experience more meaningful to Madeline, Langan suggested they plan a vegetable stand rather than a lemonade stand so she could sell some of her organically grown produce just as they do at the farmer’s market. Madeline even sold some of the kids’ bracelets she beaded during the summer.

The result is that this budding “green” entrepreneur made a $20 profit one Friday in August with half the money going to her college fund. Many of her customers were impressed with the fact that her vegetables were grown organically and that her prices were so low!

Madeline will start kindergarten at Field School this fall. Hopefully she can get her classmates excited about growing their own veggies next season.

Mobilization Ceremony

I felt very privileged to attend a ceremony at Elgin Community College honoring Bravo Company 1st Battalion 178th Infantry Regiment, which was deployed to Afghanistan to, in the words of Battalion Cmdr. Lt. Col. Dan Fuhr, “help our neighbors build roads, dig wells and build schools, one of the most important operations of this war.”

This process is part of Operation Enduring Freedom, and members of B Company will operate as part of a Provincial Reconstruction Team. There are many such teams of civilian and military personnel working in Afghanistan’s provinces to provide security for aid workers and help reconstruction work.

Of the approximately 100 soldiers in this group, one young man, Staff Sgt. Adam Kovac, is from Elmhurst and will be leaving a wife and family. He explained that this is his second tour of duty and that he was deployed to Iraq during his first tour.

“I feel that this is my responsibility toward my country and my family,” he said.

We wish Sgt. Kovac and Bravo Company a successful mission and a safe return.

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