What Else Do You Do?

So, traveling near and far is obviously my favorite thing - but what about the times between? Well, it's the best time of year and time for my favorite hobby after travel: growing plants. When you move every couple of years it can be really hard to grow a garden - not impossible, though - if you are creative enough.

Once upon a time my little family lived on a far away Pacific island, several hours west of Hawaii. It was a fun couple of years, but it had its challenges. We had to make our own yogurt, catch our own yeast from the air - but we also lived on a beach and saw rays swim by our house from the porch, so give and take right?

Fresh vegetables are difficult to come by in places like this - there is not a lot of land and sea air conditions are not exactly great for growing crops. We decided to try to grow some vegetables in pots - maybe we could have a few fresh things once in a while, right?

I don't remember everything we planted, but I do remember the cucumbers vividly. We carefully grew them on the side of the house away from the ocean to shield them from sea spray. We lovingly staked the plants up as they grew. When the flowers bloomed, we learned the island had no natural pollinators, so we watched YouTube videos to learn how to pollinate the plants with paint brushes (my boss asked, "Um, isn't that getting a little far into the plant's personal business?? lol). We watched patiently as the little plant we had loved and nurtured for months produced one beautiful cucumber.

The cucumber was amazing. It was a perfect dark green, the perfect size, firm - we had big plans for this beauty. Finally the morning came when it was time to harvest our lone cucumber and enjoy it - it was a big day! My spouse went outside and I started hearing profanity. Like lots of it. Our then three year old and I ran outside to find him staring at the plant in disbelief.

Where once hung our perfect cucumber, there was only a chewed up nubbin. That night, a rat enjoyed our bounty. The entire cucumber. All of it, all of our work - gone, in the belly of one very lucky rat.

My spouse promptly took all the garden plants and threw them away. I watched him dismantle the entire thing and swear off plants following this devastating heartbreak. Our kiddo told the story of when "the rat ate our pickle" for years after the fact. Kiddo doesn't remember a lot about our time in the Pacific, but this story is burned clearly into memory. Though now kiddo says "cucumber" instead of "pickle" when recounting...pickle was cuter though. :)

Anyway, it took eight years for us to start a new garden. We bought a house in a small city with space that is ours - we stopped moving for a while, and we have built something amazing from our dirt lot. This year I planted way more than I need in food crops so I can make regular runs to the food bank. Times are hard out there and a little kindness can go a long way.

So far we are harvesting, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, rhubarb,

peas, zucchini, lettuce, basil, mint, rosemary, oregano, shiso, and parsley. Tomatillos are almost ready. Potatoes, cantaloupe, corn, tomatoes, beans, peppers, eggplant, horseradish, onions, pumpkins, and yes - cucumbers - are well on their way. Hopefully no rats will steal any of our bounty this year.

Do you like to grow plants? I'd love to hear about your experiences - leave a comment or send me a note!

Raspberries in the sun