I believe in getting a breath of fresh air. I believe in getting my hands dirty, and letting my children get theirs dirty too. I believe in understanding where our food comes from. I believe in wind, rain, sunshine and above all, a force greater than any human mind can imagine. I believe in stopping to smell the roses — or the dahlias, verbenas, lilies, rosemary’s, heck, even the tomatoes!
A bit about me: I grew up on a thousand acres in northern California, where I chopped tails off lambs, sacked wool, herded cattle and pretended I was a boy for most of my formative years. (I’m not.) I played battleship and army, where I always had to be the red “commies” to my older brothers troops, the blue Americans. (I always lost.) I walked along the creek. I built forts and rowed our boat. I’m not saying my childhood was a bed of roses; it wasn’t. But it certainly included nature — something that is becoming less and less part of our children’s lives. When I was a child, my pets were a calf named Danny and the bummer lambs, who each winter wouldn’t take to their mothers and I’d warm powdered milk to feed them with a bottle. The following summer they’d be loaded into a truck and sent to a slaughter house. It took me years to make the connection: death, all so I (and the millions of others on this earth) could eat the delicacy of lamb meat.
For many years now I’ve lived the urban life, and I crave connection to land. My plot is fenced like a shoe box; my raised beds minuscule compared to the acres I walked as a child. My children run along the “path” I had the landscaper carve out for them. Here is my attempt; I aim to live with nature a part of my day, every day, and share just a bit of that with you.
A bit about my garden: I live in Southern California, about two miles from the coast. I have fruit trees (avocado, lemon, lime, manderine, orange) and raised beds where I grow vegetables and herbs. I also love to plant seasonal flowers and bulbs. We are zone 9 where our climate is moderate, reaches 70s most of the summer and once in a blue moon we get down to the 40s in winter, though we’ve had many more heat spells in recent years. I get a marine layer — coastal winds & fogs — which I think helps my plants (and helps me!)
