Gardening For Hope
“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”
Working remotely has not discouraged us from continuing the Dix.Hite Garden. In fact, our community garden has spread to the homes of many members of the Dix.Hite team. Chris is growing eggplants on her patio, Jamie instructs me on the proper techniques of growing avocados from seed (pointy end down), and David has recently grown cabbages larger than beach balls.
My favorite gardening activity takes place on the couch as I peruse the infinite varieties of tomatoes within seed catalogs. Berkeley tie-dye green, pink bumblebee, mortgage lifter…so many intriguing names. And my second favorite gardening activity is eating the tomatoes. (I promise I spend a lot of time in the garden between those two activities, but we are talking favorites here.) There is nothing better than a thick slice of Cherokee purple on a sandwich with all the fixings, but truly, it is the completion of a full circle that I like.
And if you’re curious, the circle often goes like this: Plant the seeds, watch them grow, nourish the plants, pull the weeds that are bullying the plants, watch the plant get attacked by a multitude of pests, painstakingly remove pests by hand, get excited when you see tiny yellow blossoms appear, watch the bees forage and pollinate, cheer when you see the beginnings of fruit, continue a strict regimen of weed-spray-water, battle a hoard of assassin bugs, wait impatiently for the tomatoes to ripen, harvest the bounty, make a sandwich, eat the dang sandwich, and save the seeds for next year.
“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” This quote by Audrey Hepburn describes more eloquently the deep connection I have with my garden. It is about having faith that the tiny dried up seeds I planted will someday soon become a delicious sandwich… but more importantly food for my family.
Recently, our entire way of life changed. Many are asking whether our society relies too heavily upon the shelves of a grocery store. The need for community-based food security has been around for a long time, but now more than ever people seek a way to battle the feeling of helplessness. As a result, toilet paper and disinfectants were not the only items people rushed out to purchase. Sales at nurseries and garden departments skyrocketed as we collectively decided to take food into our own hands by starting gardens at home. And this interesting reaction is not new to our country’s history.
During the era of world wars, starvation was rampant across Europe as farmlands became war-torn battlefields. Commercial food crops from the U.S. were diverted overseas to feed soldiers and civilians. Americans at home were encouraged to provide for themselves with as little as a handful of seeds and an informational pamphlet. Accepting the challenge, families picked up their shovels and got to work.
Garden patches gradually sprung up anywhere agriculture was not already taking place. Fruits and vegetables were planted in backyards, parks, schools, baseball fields, empty lots, rooftops, and window boxes. An estimated 5 million gardens were planted during WWI producing 1.45 million quarts of canned fruits and vegetables. By the end of WWII 20 million victory gardens had produced approximately 8 million tons of food. The wars ended and people resumed an easier way of life.
Today we are not facing war, but potentially a new way of living in order to protect those who are most susceptible. I cannot think of a better way to stand together (even though we are physically apart) than to share home-grown food with friends and neighbors. Our great grandparents accomplished so much armed with only a flimsy pamphlet and the strength of a community. Lucky for us, endless online resources exist regarding the who, what, when, and how of gardening. And so, I encourage anyone reading this to consider the possibilities, peruse the tomatoes, and plant a garden of hope.
Visit our Dix.Hite Garden on Instagram for more garden inspiration!
