I cringe to call myself suburban, but when we get to the heart of the matter, it is true. I no longer live in a fourteen story pre-war apartment building in New York City, a Victorian in San Francisco, a Craftsman in Atlanta, or a brownstone in Chicago. No I live in a house built in 1894 in the town of Evanston. Evanston, although it abuts Chicago is decidedly a university town that happens to share a public transportation system with the city of Chicago. As somebody who has a strong draw to urban life and the cultural access that comes with proximity to a city, this place where I can walk and ride my bike most places, has become home. Yes it is true that I dream of living in the country. Perhaps in a co-housing community on an organic farm. Perhaps in rural Wisconsin with a great big old barn that has been converted into an art studio and gallery space. But for now, this is where our roots are. This is where we will grow.
As the mid-western growing season ramps (no pun intended) up, I have been thinking a lot about growing ones own food as a creative act. Each year our attempts at gardening have expanded. When we lived in Atlanta I thought for sure if I threw seeds at the earth and never tended to them something would grow. I was disheartened when zinnias were the only thing that really took root. Oh and there was the year of ordering tomato transplants by mail and growing one beautiful Cherokee Purple. I think that was a $30 tomato with a larger carbon footprint then I would have intended.
My paternal grandmother was an amazing gardener. I remember her rambling zucchini plants, vining green beans and well pruned raspberry brambles vividly. But growing skill is not genetic in my case. And since I have only really come to growing our food since her passing. I can only conjure her in my planting, not stoop by her side in the garden plugging seeds into the earth.
All of this to say that I am not the worlds most astute gardener. I do not take well to following directions, paying attention to certain details or organization, but oh I am inspired. I am inspired by urban growers everywhere from Detroit to Milwaukee to the south side of Chicago where just last week an ordinance was past whereby vacant land can be sold for a dollar for civic use or otherwise. I am inspired by the urban farm movement of the special period in Cuba where people with little and little capacity to import food grew their own. I am inspired by those who have left big cities as part of the contemporary small organic farm movement whereby people who love good food and believe in sustainable practices, that do not deplete the soil, grow food and sell it. I am inspired by four season growing pioneer, Elliot Coleman, and the Locavore movement. I am inspired by the act of putting a seed in the ground, watering it, nurturing it and watching it grow to maturity. I am inspired by the chance to harvest a meal from my own backyard. Although I might be a lazy grower in part, there is an itching determination to learn by error and to grow, one meal at a time.
This year I thought it might be a worthwhile experiment to better track our growing efforts, to keep tabs on what fails and what succeeds, to observe the change in our growing plots through the Spring, Summer and into Autumn. And, well I thought I just might share a little bit of that here.
Thus far our herb boxes are overflowing with mint, oregano and chives. The parsley, thyme and lavender are struggling to make a come back. The apple and cherry trees I planted four years ago are blossoming, and the seeds we planted a couple of weeks ago are sprouting. I've ripped out more raspberry brambles then I care to mention and am doing my best to contain these rambling wanderers. This past weekend our first outdoor farmers market got me so excited I decided to plant three rhubarb and nine asparagus crowns. I love early spring foods, ramps most especially, and always long for more of them. Who knows how I would feel if we had access to asparagus and rhubarb year round, but since we don't they are dear treasures. Treasures I hope to cultivate and harvest and share.
Last year I came to terms with the fact that my efforts to grow peaches, peppers, eggplants, potatoes, carrots and corn were somewhat futile. This year we are sticking to what I have firmly established I can actually grow. So our list of foods that are in the ground and I feel confident will provide some degree of sustenance are: collards, kale, swiss chard, lettuce, beets, snap peas, green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, cippollini onions, strawberries and tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. Oh and there is one moon and stars watermelon. Let's keep our fingers crossed for her. Much of this is from seed, but some are transplants. To date my efforts to grow seedlings indoors and properly transfer them have not been successful. I have ideas and plans for the years to come, but for now we are a seed and other peoples' transplant sort of growing establishment.
I am eager to nurture our little vegetable patches along and to harvest summer meals from our garden. We are fine tuning our irrigation system for optimal efficiency of water usage and already harvesting mint for salads and smoothies. Oh how I am looking forward to all that will come from our growing efforts. I wonder at all the possibility of what we can make on this little patch of land we call our backyard.