Until I was 8 years old, my parents had a huge vegetable garden. Not one of those puny 6-foot-square ones, but one that was about 3/4ths the length of our doublewide trailer, and just as wide. We had corn, green beans, all kinds of peppers, okra, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, and more (I can't remember it all). I'm not really sure how my parents (mostly Pat -- M did the tilling and Pat did most everything else) managed to make it all grow in red clay (without using compost!!!), but they did. I loved walking among the rows, especially when the corn was tall enough to give shade (I lived about three hours south of where I do now -- 10 degrees hotter, most days). I found it absolutely magical that you could put seeds in the dirt and get food! And Pat made the most amazing pickles (both dill and bread-n-butter, mmm) and pepper sauce from them.

Later we moved away from deep country to the suburbs and my parents became more concerned with making the front yard look 'pretty' than with growing food. M would till, and I would be assigned tasks like picking rocks out of the tilled soil, hauling dirt, and digging holes, while Pat did all the designing and plant-choosing. I started hating 'working in the yard' as they called it; I was not allowed to design or participate in any fun tasks like planting, just the dull drudge work. And for my efforts I got to look at flowers (which have never been important to me anyway, and Pat chose ones that were orange and pink, two colors I dislike). So I associated gardening with useless, unrewarding drudgery.

Last year, on a whim, I ordered a black willow tree baby off of ebay. Seeing a skinny little stick worried me at first -- I thought it was dead. Watching it tentatively put out its first leaves was a revelation; it reminded me of how plant care could be. Here was magic. Seeing little changes every day was so THRILLING to me! I can imagine that if I had a garden I would get the most intense joy out of caring for plants and having them reward me with yummy peppers and tomatoes! Taking the little explosion-of-life-energy that is a seed and placing it in the ground is surely a holy act. ♥ And communing with each nascent plant... oh *shivers* how much of a blessing it must be!

I don't think I'll have any land for a while yet *sadface* but I do very much want a greenhouse! Our neighborhood management is ridiculously strict, so it'll have to wait until we move (space and allowance for a greenhouse will definitely be a consideration).

I sent my baby silk trees and black willow to Pat's house for the winter (as ze gets more indoor sun) and then ze went off for WEEKS without warning me or getting anyone to care for them (oh yeah, ze's gone off to be with M. I'm so fed up with this). I had to harass zir for ages before ze finally sent someone to water them. I'm really scared that they might not survive :-( I don't know how long they went without water, and they both prefer wet soil. If you would pray and/or send positive energy/thoughts to them I would be very grateful... They're both really special to me. I'm too worried to tell their full story right now, but I will tell it after I pick them up.