Seeds and Gardens

Growing our own food has almost always been part of my life. My parents had a big garden in our city backyard for our big nine-member family. I loved planting. My dad and I would go to the hardware store where they had jars of seeds, the littlest bags in the world and an old fashioned scale. I was his helper as he went down the list and picked and weighed out the seeds we needed.

Then home to plant. Dad had a hoe with measurements marked off on the wooden shaft. He would lay it out and put a stake with string in the ground. One of us kids would unroll the string to the other end of of the about-to-be-hoed row and he would guide us - "a little to the right"; "more to the left" to the spot to plunge it into the ready soil for a straight row. He hoed, we sowed. And then all those seeds and plants? Why, they growed! Weeding, picking and garden chores were an all-family affair.

Lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, green and wax beans were all part of "going out to the garden" to get some of the food for supper. Snacks during harvest season were crunchy, juicy beans or warm tomatoes picked right that second. I missed that as a young apartment-dwelling adult. When we bought our first house in spring, making a garden was our first order of business and has remained so at every place we've lived.

We have grown this, that and the next thing over the years. Once we started regular CSA shares, we still planted. Our garden now features whatever I can't get enough of in our CSAs or what I want on hand as much as I can.  Spring/summer garlic, onions, fresh herbs, cucumbers, tomatoes, chard, sorrel.  The winter seed catalogs have me dreaming of what tasty treat we will try this year.

Each time I plant a seed or bulb or plant in the warmed earth of spring or the cooling soil of fall, I feel like a maker. It speaks of ancient rhythms that tie me to nature and her cycles. Growing even a small part of the food we eat brings an amazing satisfaction.

I am so happy and excited to see a growing passion again for growing food. Our library is beginning a seed saving library in partnership with Seed Savers and planning workshops to teach and reach out to people on sustainability and gardening. I can hardly wait!