This is the navel-gazing section where I ponder gardening beyond the how-to and sometimes go off-topic entirely.
The truth is, I don’t really know why I started a website about growing things. I’m sure there were reasons, but I wasn’t entirely conscious of what they were. I have always made things and this was a thing that I wanted to make. I didn’t want to be a writer, except that I also, …
Last week I was in a therapy session and the topic of what I know about plants came up. The therapist asked me where I carry knowledge about plants in my body. Where I feel it. My “body of knowledge,” so to speak. While I understand that our bodies hold experiences, I’d never thought about …
“Welcome back, friends.” Lately, these words keep popping up in my mind as I slowly walk the garden looking for signs of growth and change. Sometimes I say them out loud, too, greeting each plant as they emerge. I feel so happy to see them again. Grateful that we are here, in spring. Back at …
“What if rather than saying, “The garden belongs to me,” you said, “I belong to the garden.” – from my book, Grow Curious I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the years and have picked away at it in big and small ways [see No More War in the Garden]. As a young university …
The creature at your feet dismissed as a bug or a weed is a creation in itself. It has a name, a million-year history, and a place in the world. – E. O. Wilson, biologist and naturalist (see Biophilia) It started with the snails. I’ve been remarking for years that the Banded Wood snails (Cepaea …
This month I will be participating in National Blog Posting Month #NaBloPoMo. I won’t pretend to be able to keep up with publishing a daily post. That’s not realistic for me right now. But I will be able to commit to weekly, hopefully more. I’ve been feeling frustrated with social media lately and realize I …
I wrote this short piece recently as a series of tweets on Twitter and then transcribed it to my Instagram and Facebook accounts. But because too much falls into the social media ether these days, I have transcribed it here with a few small changes. When I was 16, going on 17, I dug my …
The other day, while walking around, exploring the garden, I happened upon a ladybug sitting on a leaf on the black currant bush. Upon first glance I thought the ladybug was alive, but looking more closely I could see that it was unmoving and probably dead. Next I noticed a bruised, wet spot on its …
Today and every day: Grow and eat good food. Find your grounding in the earth and connect to the nature that is in you — the nature that is you. Make space for wildness. BE wild. Tend and be tender. Don’t be good; be defiant. Cultivate compassion and empathy. Hold yourself in strength and dignity. …
A year ago, almost to the day, I wrote about my experiences as a gardener who couldn’t garden due to illness and what that taught me about myself and gardening. I ended the piece by musing on a reassurance from my partner Davin that come spring both the garden and I would be here. Eventually, …
Davin took this photo of me standing in the garden the other day, on the occasion of my 43rd birthday. It was drizzling at the time, but I was elated. It has been unbearably dry and hot here in Toronto for some time. I have never appreciated rain more than I have this summer. In …
I spent about an hour yesterday afternoon perched on a stool in front of a patch of borage (Borago officinalis) with my camera poised to take photos of pollinators as they went about their business collecting pollen. I observed at least 6 different types of bees on this particular plant, many of which were small …