As Long as I Have a Garden.

My mom has always had a garden and I don’t think I’ve ever thanked her for that. Because of her, and my memories of her hands in the dirt planting tomatoes, I’ve always had a garden, myself. At around 21 years old I had my first very own veggie garden in a little run down rental. It was literally just a postage stamp of dirt but I grew a lot, including some delicious green beans. Then- when I lived up on the mountain a few years later (which I spoke about last post) I had a huge veggie garden. Different gardens followed throughout the different houses I lived in. But always, always- a garden.

The growing space I’ve had for the last nearly 15 years has been awesome, we are lucky to have a spacious backyard. Only thing is, every few years, we have rats come visit and eat my tomatoes. Recently, I was able to update my garden area with three new box additions and pea gravel. This may not seem like a big deal to most people, but to me it’s life-changing. My updated garden space has enabled me to set up for success and (hopefully) grow a lot more food than I was able to before. I have plans, should rats dare to step foot near my garden this year and I’ve already done a great job keeping the birds away from my lettuce seeds. I decided to mostly grow from seed- since it’s early in the year and there’s plenty of time. I plan to grow the biggest garden I can, with lots of food and herbs. I’ll keep you posted.

I’ve also gotten into baking bread, which I have always done from time to time. This time however, I made my own sourdough starter. Did you know making your own starter takes 5 days? It’s like taking care of a kid. I guess that’s what gardening is like, too - raising babies. Creating sourdough starter is kind of like taking care of a kid, but actually not really, because kids - for reasons beyond our comprehension- put folded clean clothes in the dirty hamper. They also rarely clean up the bathroom. My sourdough starter would never do such things.

That’s why I like to bake and garden. You get to create, in the quiet. I’ve always liked the quiet aspect of gardening. But at this time of my life, it’s more than appreciated, it’s needed.

(The recipes I’m using for baking currently are gluten-free and from this book. It’s a beautiful book. This lady’s kind of a genius baker. I recommend it.)

Then there’s Marv. Marv and Amma both like to garden with me. Marv likes to eat dirt clods and wood chips while Amma just kind of stands around and looks at me as if she’s asking- should he be doing that? Then they both go in and nap, as you can see.

Sometimes I think that as long as I have a few dogs and a place to garden, I’ll really always be content.