Spring is here!

Last week I posted a video giving a mini tour of my garden on Instagram (see here)and I wanted to talk about my garden journey. You would think there wouldn't be any excitement in a gardening journey but if you know me or stick around long enough, you'll find out that I always have a story about something.

A Small Harvest

So boom, I started my gardening journey to understand and have a better connection to food and also have healthier options grown with my hands. I had been cooking professionally for almost 10 years at that point and shows like Chef's Table and others like it were so inspiring to me so I started my garden. I started off with no real direction with what I wanted to plant at first because I just wanted to see if I could grow anything (and deal with the critters that came with it) so I was putting all types of seeds down and buying seedlings. You see, I was also breaking out of a limiting and fear and anxiety based mindset surrounding gardening (and a lot of things really) because I had a bug phobia and lacked the confidence to garden. I was over the moon to see that not only did my seeds and plants grow, they THRIVED. It became a place of growth, joy, overcoming and peace for me. I eventually had a small greenhouse and all sorts of seedlings and plants.

Jalapenos

Then one day, disaster hit (the drama). I woke up to about 3-4 plants missing. At first I thought they fell but I couldn’t find them anywhere. I was livid! Who TF steals plants? Then the next day, a few more went missing. I could feel the joy draining away. My brother and niece came over to help me walk the neighborhood to find my plants. Yes we sure did check people’s yards. We spoke to some neighbors and they seemed to be just as upset as me (though in my mind, one of you bitches is the plant thief lmao). Maybe a week or so later, I get a knock on my door at 6:30am and it's a woman asking me if some things are mine. In the picture, you can see all of the aloe plants I had separated a few days prior and my mini greenhouse with the plants in it. It was all I had left and they took it! She said that she passed by all the time and saw my beautiful garden and recognized it and that she saw a man on her camera dump them in the bushes by her house like a block away. I felt enraged, violated, disrespected and discouraged. I was unhappy in a lot of ways and that garden gave me peace and it was taken away from me. I was actually pretty devastated and felt very violated. Whatever else managed to stay alive in the garden, I let die completely and stopped gardening completely. My neighbors would stop by to tell about how it was such a shame that it happened and my garden was very beautiful. 

Chives

One day, one of the neighbors drove by and stopped in front of my house as I was going in. She asked me if I was moving because my patio was empty now. I told her no, I was just really discouraged because of what happened. She said to never let anyone steal my joy and that she thinks I should start again. She was so encouraging and very warm. I thought about it and decided I should start again and haven't looked back since. This time around, the garden is doing better than before and I'm even more confident in my ability to garden and produce. I can’t wait to show you what I grow and the things I make!

Until next time,

B