Check yourself – Safety is just so important

Something really awful happened today.

And I wanted to remind each and every one of you that you need to check yourself when you are in the garden, because we work with tools that can hurt, maim and even kill. And today, I got a terrible reminder of that.

My dad is in surgery right now and he hurt his hand very badly. He just went to cut some garden stakes for my mom and he slipped and the blade hit his hand.

We gardeners as a group talk about safety, we think about safety and I think we very rarely really consider what it means to be safe in the garden. This morning I read this post – Dirt: Snip It! – about a new type of pruning shears that are safer, I even commented that I keep the tools away from my kids because of the danger. But… It’s not like I thought that that afternoon I would be at the ER.

We think it is just gardening, it is flowers and fun and how could you get hurt? But check yourself. Every cut, every move, watch the kids, watch yourself. Make sure you are gardening safely.

If you are reading this, please send out good thoughts for my dad. He will need them.