What a weekend. The first one this spring that’s really hinted at the idea that summer might. just. actually. happen. I spent many hours outside. I took not one, but two long walks–fast, heart-pumping walks, even with the two littles, courtesy of my Graco Quattro Tour Duo stroller, with which I am so enamored that I will devote a whole post to its praises soon.)
Today I meandered over to Micki’s house to help her put in her first plants of the season (okay, I mostly sat on the sidelines and cracked jokes, though I may also have dug a hole or two), and then when she realized that no, she actually did not have room for an entire flat of broccoli in her garden (in addition to the cauliflower, collard greens, kale, lettuce, arugula, and brussels sprouts) we hauled half of it over to my place and planted it here. My first garden in our new place in Chicago. In fact, my first garden in several years. See, the last time I gardened was when my sister and I got ambitious…(very ambitious…okay, ridiculously ambitious for two people with very little gardening experience), “leased” a 25 foot by 25 foot community garden plot from the city we lived in, and tried to start a small organic farm complete with three different varieties of lettuce, zucchini, two different types of tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, herbs, and so on. From seed. Soon after that experience I wrote this short play in honor of our attempts:
(We see a 25’ X 25’ garden plot, surrounded by six or so of the same. The plot is full of some sort of vegetation, coming up in odd spurts. Our heroines MEAGAN, a spritely, spunky young woman and her equally spunky and spritely sister KATHREEN are standing in the dirt)
MEAGAN: OK!
KATHREEN: OK….
MEAGAN: OK, so it looks like we’ve got some plants here.
KATHREEN: Yep. Those are definitely some plants.
MEAGAN: Some of these are weeds. Right?
KATHREEN: Yeah. Some have gotta be weeds.
MEAGAN: Do you remember what we planted over here?
KATHREEN: No. I guess we should have marked it off, huh?
MEAGAN: Yeah, but it’s OK. It will just be a surprise when it comes up. Oh…
KATHREEN: What?
MEAGAN: Well, I just realized that we have to pull the weeds but I can’t tell which are weeds and which are plants.
KATHREEN: (pointing) That looks like a weed.
MEAGAN: Yeah, it does, but it looks like it’s coming up in rows.
KATHREEN: What are those people over there doing? Their garden looks pretty good.
MEAGAN: They appear to be hoeing.
KATHREEN: We need a hoe.
MEAGAN: What would we do with a hoe?
KATHREEN: We would hoe with it.
MEAGAN: No, I mean what’s the purpose of hoeing? What does it accomplish?
KATHREEN: Um…I don’t know. Go ask those people.
MEAGAN: No way!
KATHREEN: I think it aerates the soil or something.
MEAGAN: Oh crap, I just pulled out a weed but it has a lima bean seed on the end
KATHREEN: It’s probably not a weed then.
MEAGAN: Why did we plant lima beans? Nobody likes them.
KATHREEN: Well, I think you just pulled them all out anyway.
MEAGAN: Oh, those other people are looking at us—quick! Act like you know what you’re doing.
KATHREEN: We should go buy some plants. This starting from seed thing isn’t really working so well.
MEAGAN: Good idea. Let me finish yanking up all the lima beans first though. I’m on a roll.
KATHREEN: OK.
But that was years ago, and I’ve managed to accomplish a few things since then, including bringing two more children into the world…so maybe successful gardening really is not beyond me. Looking at those little green sprouts, I feel hopeful. I may not be quite up to the task of urban homesteading just yet, but at the very least I’m expecting my kids will be able to watch a few little broccoli plants grow and get the satisfaction of eating something they helped (okay, sorta) plant and harvest. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.
Hey! I LOVE lima beans. Murderer!
That garden story is hilarious! However, I have had similar gardening experiences, so I have no garden evny. What I do have is baby gear envy. I never had a sweet stroller like that! Dang. I wish there were compact doubles when my big ones were younger. All the doubles were the size of clipper ships. It would take half a block to make a turn. All this cool new gear now that mine are bigger. Almost makes me want to have more. Almost…
Lisa, that is too funny–this thing literally wound up on my doorstep just as I’d given up on the idea that I’d ever find a reasonably compact stroller that I could push two kids in at once. All the doubles I’ve had before have taken up the whole sidewalk or else they were so long that you could barely turn around the corner and the front child was usually in another zip code. Now I’m just in a scramble to use it as much as possible before my third child is too big for it. Even then, the extra space is a sweet spot to stash stuff!
I’ve been thinking about leasing a small garden plot in a community garden in Charlotte, North Carolina. You’re making me re-think the idea. I can picture myself standing in a huge garden plot, digging up the brussels sprouts and letting the dandelions grow wild! Thanks for the laugh!
[…] these? I’m proud to say that by early June, those twelve little seedlings had grown up into ten […]
Thanks so much for sharing. This is really really funny. I feel like I am very inspired all of a sudden and want to head to my backyard with my little one.