Johnson among winners of writing contest

Sophomore Chandler Johnson was named Darlington's winner of the Rome News-Tribune's annual One Book, Many Voices writing contest. This year, 154 area students submitted entries about Kristin Kimball's "The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love.”

Winners were selected from each area high school. All winners will get to meet the author at a private reception before her talk Oct. 13 at Darlington School. Tickets for this event are still available are $5 each and are still available at the Rome-Floyd County Library, Kroger and the Rome-Floyd Visitors Center. Her talk will begin at 7 p.m.

Read the full text of Johnson's essay below:

The scorching sun was bearing down on my neck, developing a farmer’s tan as I labored in my grandparents' garden. Beads of sweat meandered down my face as I lugged a substantial green watering can along the lush rows of vegetables. I was eager to begin to harvest the food that I had helped to grow. While preparing a meal using the organic ingredients from our garden, I felt full of not only scrumptious food, but of love and pride. As our garden grew, so did my relationship with my grandparents. 

While reading "The Dirty Life," memories of gardening with my grandparents and picking wild berries in Canada with my family, as we do every summer, were triggered. I related to Kristin Kimball’s love of hard work and being able to enjoy the fruits of your labour. Her many stories of the hardship that goes along with farming made me think of the time I developed painful blisters on my hands from peeling the potatoes that we had grown for a homemade potato sausage from a recipe which my great-grandparents brought with them from Sweden. Or, the time that my hands, like the “little, arthritic claws” Kristin Kimball developed from milking her cow, were sore from plucking so many delicate blueberries from the bushes. I can still recall the stinging rash from poison oak on my hand I obtained while blueberry picking, but the sweet taste of our homemade pie made all the hurt go away.  

I have gained a greater appreciation of the time I have spent in the garden with my family and cooking homemade meals with ingredients that came from it. Not long ago, my grandmother passed away and I can look back on my favorite memories of working in the garden with her. Now, whenever we make zucchini bread, I am brought back to the days when we placed the richly colored green vegetables in a basket and toted them back them to the house.

I found Kristin Kimball’s fearlessness inspiring. Her willingness to change her lifestyle completely made me believe that any goal is achievable, that there is no dream I cannot aspire to make come true. Harriet Tubman once said, “ Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars, to change the world.” Kristin Kimball had the strength to follow her dreams, and look beyond the fear of failure- finding love, her true calling, and fulfillment in her work along the way. I hope I am that fortunate, that brave, so that I too can reach for the stars and listen to my heart to find out my purpose in life.

Chandler is the daughter of Carmen and Dr. Jay Johnson of Rome.