By Guest Blogger on October 12, 2009

Garden Punks

On this Meatless Monday, CSL welcomes the knowledge of blogger and gardener, Katie Hobson. Learn how easy it is to start your own veggie garden and find out about the community of gardeners ready to help you along the way!

In 2006, I was a 20-something homeowner with a freshly acquired home and garden. I was ready, at long last, to get my hands into the dirt in my “forever” home. Yet I felt so very alone. None of my friends saw their yards the same way I did—as a canvas to create, a place to play and putter. Their yards were just the opposite: “too much work” “a burden.” My unbridled enthusiasm was met with confusion: they couldn’t understand how I could possibly enjoy the prospect of yard work.

Gardening had been a part of my life since I was small. I remember planting marigolds and picking cherries in my backyard with my family. I gardened in an old shipping crate at a rental house in college. At the time, I didn’t know anyone else who gardened. Now, I had a piece of land that was mine for the shaping. But I was alone, with only my memories to help me get going.

So I started a blog.

At first, I blogged in a vacuum, writing only for myself about the happenings in my yard. The blog was a place for me to note important gardening milestones throughout the year. Slowly, though, I began to get comments from other people – other bloggers who actually took the time to read what I had considered a simple garden journal. Over time we began to share tips, ideas, trials, and tribulations. We experimented. We documented. These people became my gardening friends; they had a unique appreciation of the vicissitudes of gardening life that I’d previously thought was mine alone: we shared the joys of competing for the first ripe tomato (or smallest tomato), and leveraged each other’s knowledge to identify the crazy-looking insects we’d find in a pre- Twitter-saturated world. Reading their blogs gave me gardening perspective from across the country, and introduced me to a diverse group of people I would never have crossed paths with otherwise.

I remember those early gardening days as some of my favorite. I absorbed information like a sponge and made constant exciting discoveries. I had many “aha!” moments. I became more confident. That period shaped me as a gardener, and I loved how “organic” the process was. Pun intended.

I could wax philosophical about how to start a garden, but thanks to the resurgent interest in gardening during the last few years, there is a proliferation of good advice out there already. So I’d be taking the discovery process away from you! The reality is that more people garden than you might think; it’s just a matter of finding them. I like using the garden blogs of others to find interesting information as well as read comments left by others. A popular blog will be like six degrees of separation to find other excellent blogs! A couple of my favorite places to start which are non-intimidating to those gardeners just getting started are:

Blotanical

The Casual Gardener

The $25 Victory Garden

And here are a few pieces of “real” gardening advice:

-You do not need expensive gardening equipment to start gardening. Your hands and a pair of gloves will go a long way. A sturdy spoon is in my arsenal of tools, as is a big stick. Whatever works.
-Experiment. There is no such thing as a perfect garden. A failure this time around only means that you know what to do better next time.
-You will kill plants. It happens. Learning opportunities abound!
-Conversely, relish in your successes. Just like Ellen, who dances on her show, I dance in the garden with each new discovery and exciting milestone.
-Graciously accept gifts of plants from other gardeners. There’s lots of plant love to go around.
-Plant what you like. Don’t let gardeners with attitude about “generic plants” influence what you like. Some plants are ubiquitous for good reason – they’re easy to grow and look great for a long time. You can always change something you don’t like or have “outgrown” at a later date.
-If you have a gardening question, ask a gardener. The best research-based answers will come from your local Master Gardener resource, usually through your County’s Cooperative Extension.
-Along those lines, your favorite search engine is your friend. The library is your best friend (isn’t that what winter is for – flipping through gardening books and dreaming of warmer days?)
-Come to terms with what our society considers gardening pests. Mama raccoon has a family to feed too, you know. Insect predators come along after you seem to be overwhelmed with “bad” bugs. A lassiez-faire attitude and good deal of patience in gardening will keep you sane.
-Most importantly: A garden needn’t be perfect to be appreciated. My garden and yard will never be magazine worthy, and I’m ok with that. (I think the term “wabi sabi” applies here.)

I have to say the best part of gardening is the community it’s created for me, a former self-professed “people hater.” I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Chicago last spring and finally meet those bloggers who shaped my gardening world in the last few years. When I arrived home after the trip, I began to cultivate local relationships with gardeners in my area and now consider them among my growing network of friends.

Gardening isn’t just a hobby to me – it’s my church, meditation, childlike wonder, friend, confidant, natural connection, people connection, heart, breath, life.

To those of you interested in gardening, good luck and best wishes. It’ll change your life if you let it.

Katie is a 20-something suburbanite, gardening in Northern California with her husband + dog, and sometimes raccoons.

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By Mallika Chopra on March 26, 2009

Saving Money and Expanding our Community in Difficult Times

Recently, as part of my family’s effort to tighten up our home finances, we have begun the transition from bookstore to library. And the benefits have been incredibly rewarding! Santa Monica — where I live — has a new, beautiful library. We made a family trip to the new building, got library cards and spent the afternoon looking at the endless books there. Tara, my elder daughter, was so excited to see the variety of books from fiction to biographies to fantasy. They each got two lovely books to read (which they read that same night) and are ready to go back as soon as possible. In addition, we are setting aside books and dvds to donate and share with others in our community.

I marvel that if it weren’t for the uncertainty of the recession, I would have pushed off this incredible opportunity to teach my girls that a love for books is separate from the need to accumulate them. Not only are we supporting our local library, we are also encouraging our children to live more a more sustainable lifestyle — that is, taking advantage of what is already there instead of always buying everything brand-new.

Though the constant outpouring of negative news on foreclosures, bankruptcies and unemployment is nearly impossible to avoid, I have been reading with great interest the silver lining that has been emerging from this difficult economic period. Of families spending more time with their kids in nature or playing ball, rather than just seeing a movie. Or the rise in volunteers for non-profit organizations and charity events. An increase in public transportation. People everywhere learning in big and small ways that you really do not need to buy so many things to live a happy, fulfilled life.

This recession is an opportunity for us to curve our consumerism, and also to think more as a community. Readers, please share your intents on how you hope to decrease your spending while increasing your sense of community. Imagining a more caring, active and sustainable neighborhood within our own cities and towns is the first crucial step in repairing our country and the world at large. Mallika Chopra blogs regularly at Intent.com

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