One Thing Leads to Snother

Being an avid gardener, she knows which plants to grow in her garden that would help keep pests away. She always put mammoth sunflowers at the ends of her beds, knowing that many garden pests would be attracted to them and they were strong enough to not succumb to their attacks. She planted onions and garlic on the outside edges. Many rodents would be discouraged by the pungent smell. She keeps marigolds in pots so she can plant them between her tomato plants. Not only are they beautiful, but the strong aroma keeps pests away.

She starts all her plants in pots and transplants them when they are big enough. She has learned patience being a gardener waiting for the seeds to become seedlings and to mature enough to transplant. Them caring for each one through all the stages of growth till they were ready to harvest. Year after year, she amended the soils with compost and applied mulch and after the harvest turned the soil and allowed it to compost till the next growing season.

She always had enough vegetables to can for her family and some to give to neighbors. When the season is over, she removes the plants and digs up the marigolds and puts them in pots for the next garden. She may do a fall garden that is mostly green leafy plants and doesn't use them. She keeps them in a greenhouse to preserve them.

This year something strange happened that she was not prepared for. When she digs up the marigolds before turning the soil, she is not able to get to the bottom of the roots. Deeper and deeper she digs but the roots are still not coming out of the ground. She doesn’t want to kill them but doesn’t know what to do. She gets a bigger shovel but still can’t dig deep enough. She rents a small excavator and digs a hole five feet deep. Still she hasn't reached the bottom of the roots. She goes to her neighbor and he and her husband look at the root system. They decide to call the county agriculture service and have then come see what is happening. An inspector comes out and he has never seen anything like this. There is no explanation for the marigold to set roots this deep. Bringing out a crew with a front end loader and a large excavator. They dig a hole twelve feet deep, six feet wide and eight feet long. They hit something solid and could see the roots going in a twelve inch diameter hole. They went to it and tried to remove the roots to see what this was. At this point saving the plant wasn’t the objective. They cut the roots again and again until they could see inside the hole.

It was dark inside it but with a strong flashlight, they were able to see what it was. It seems that there was a bomb shelter there once that had been buried years ago. The woman and her husband were curious and decided to uncover it completely and find the entrance. It took several hours to do that and they were able to go inside. They were amazed to find enough food for six months, clothing and other things, and freshwater. There were mattresses and bedding and a composting toilet.

They decided to keep it open and move the garden to another spot on their property. The neighbors started wondering if there was a bomb shelter on their property. Many of them began excavating their yard after they used sound equipment to determine if there was one.

The cold war had ended a long time ago so the threat of nuclear war was over, but they could be used for many other purposes, like a storm shelter, or cold storage for canned goods, or even an extra room for guests.

What would you use one for?