Whether you’re growing a few tomato plants on your patio for a summer salad or a community garden to feed the neighborhood, people small and large are taking sustainability matters into their own hands and repurposing their yards for the greater good. This blog reports on whatever divinely comes my way that will hopefully continue to inspire myself and others.
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Here’s a little bit about how this blog came into being.
The Short Version…
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The Enriched Version…
Here it is. The story, the whole story and nothing but the story, so help me you know who…
(you might want to put on a cup of tea, make a bowl of popcorn, or perhaps grab handful of fresh berries from your garden! Don’t’ say I didn’t warn you. Go ahead, you go look up the definition of “enriched” in the dictionary! LOLLLL….)
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I’ve never considered myself to be a “rah, rah, rah” green aficionado, but I will admit it’s a growing interest. I do deem myself however to be an artist, one of many kinds. I’m a Feng Shui consultant, a freelance copywriter, and do a myriad of other things; I’m an explorer and wanderer by nature. Lately, however, over the past few years I find myself being drawn to green expos, seminars and anything that seemingly comes along and peaks my interest. Just perusing the green market isles seeing what makes its way into my basket. Whether it’s the latest in bamboo or cork flooring, low/no VOC paints, natural cleaners, non-toxic clays and toys for kids, the list is endless of what exists today on the shelves of this growing green superstore. I find it truly fascinating and the sky’s the limit! Here’s a good example for browsing just to get your own mind going on the types of products that exist in the land of green. Needless to say, my interest is duly noted and quite peaked.
Now, I also happen to really like libraries. A lot. Sometimes I go to just do writing work there, I like being surrounded by all those books, big wood tables, and librarians always ready to help me find some piece of random information that’s on my mind. There’s simply a special energy about libraries I connect to. Ironically, for as much time as I spend there, you’d think I would like to read more than I do. But I rent lots of DVD’s from there and enjoy a nice playaway book now and then and truly just like the ambience. Now, for anyone who knows about the library system(s) (yes, plural) in Los Angeles County, I counted one time, and I’m proud (or maybe just a complete goofball, LOL) to say I actually have 7 library cards, including an 8th one for Orange County. What can I say? I’ve moved around a lot, and always like to have the right card on hand to my closest branch, whatever side of town that may be. Some libraries have lectures and events and I’ve been to a fair amount lately at the main Santa Monica library branch, including some non-fiction author talks, a writing workshop, some musical performances, and the farmers market discussion panels come to mind. I was consistently checking their schedule for awhile and that’s how one day I came to find myself sitting in a 6-week Green Living workshop presented by an organization called Sustainable Works. And there you have it, my interest in checking out “green” happened to be held at the “library” — that was it! (I just had this flashback of those vintage Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercials from when I was a kid in the 70′s & 80′s, ha-ha-ha). Well, there’s a little more to the story I suppose.
Sustainable Works is a “non-profit environmental education organization whose mission is to foster a culture of sustainability in cities, colleges, and businesses” and supports the City of Santa Monica’s Sustainable City Plan. Yes, that part in and of itself was kind of interesting for me to learn that a city actually has a real plan in place and an organization developed specifically to help achieve those goals by empowering sustainable practices through businesses and residents. Though their reach if far beyond just the one city, and their workshops are open to all Los Angeles residents, so there I sat.
The workshop is designed provide your average resident (whether you own or rent like myself) insight into some of what the main sustainability issues even are, and things, both big and small, any one person can do to make a difference. It was divided into main topics one for each week including: Water, Energy, Waste, Chemicals, Transportation, and Shopping & Food.
On a total side note, if you’ve ever wondered about the difference between the words “green” and “sustainable” which are sometimes used interchangeably by those of us who don’t know any better (like myself until I learned), I heard a great definition in a seminar recently. Generally speaking, green is simply an effort to create a less toxic environment in your home by using more natural products and resources; sustainable takes green a step further and is concerned about ways that product was made to reduce the environmental impact and preserve our earth from the initial concept and production of the product to how it is disposed of. (Want more food for though on that? Be sure to come back and watch the cute little video “The Story Of Stuff” when you have a few moments).
Anyway, during day one, the water conservation lecture, one tiny little comment struck a chord in me, and that’s literally how this whole blog started. It was a simple remark about how the stereotypical American lawn was one of our biggest wastes of water. And that in fact, lawns/yards as we know it didn’t even come about until around the 16th or 17th centuries in Europe. Up until that time in history, if you owned land you worked it. Simple as that. It grew to become a symbol of wealth to have a land that could be cultivated simply for beauty, and not have to be dependent on its production. Even coming over here to America in the beginning, it was a sign of wealth because, hmm, think about this part now, if you had land and wanted nice yards, you had to be wealthy enough to either hire people to trim it by hand or care for the animals whose sole purpose was grazing to keep the grass “mowed” looking all prim and proper. It wasn’t until the advent of the modern day lawn mowers that lead to the true America dream of that white picket fence around this beautiful trimmed and maintained sprawling green yard as we know it today.
But the idea in the class was that all this water was being wasted. Which I only half agree with by the way because I happen to love botanical gardens, and like anything else, lawns and decorative gardens are just another form of artistic expression in our world creating beauty which we couldn’t live without. Even painting or any other art medium, if you break it down, uses some level of natural resources, to make paint, canvases, etc. But I got it; I completely understood the point the teacher was trying to make. Here we all are with lush lawns, while there is a major water shortage crisis all over the state. Everyone is spending precious water, which we don’t have much of, to simply keep our lawns green when we could be watering the same yard filled with fruits and vegetables that are actually providing us with something we desperately need, thus creating a more sustainable environment for each of us. The teacher then mentioned how people were actually starting to turn their front yards into gardens. That sounded really impressive to me that people were actually doing that. This one class was all it took, and though it took me longer to write it all, the whole mention of it lasted just about 3 minutes of time and is a blur when I think about it. But is interesting the way divine energy works sometimes….
Ok, so about two days after that first class I was waiting to use a computer at the library (though I’ve since now upgraded and have a newer laptop and can simply plug into to wifi there, no waiting time required) but I happened to be standing near the P section of magazines and picked up People, Photography, and Psychology Today to flip through while I waited (I have a random set of interests as you are clearly getting to know). And there I saw in People magazine of all places this article on people who were turning their front yards into gardens! It was so cool to see a picture of this. Wow, I thought, we just talked about that! Then two days after that I was flipping through another random magazine and saw another article, and then another and another and soon everywhere I turned even the book display in my then local library lobby had books on that very subject.
Hmmm….as a very divine creature, I tend to allow things to flow….somehow everywhere I turned for weeks, articles were divinely pouring upon me, literally. And something in me made me take notes. I jotted down every magazine article, website I came across, I had absolutely no idea why, but somehow I had this list growing…
Ultimately, I thought this was such a fabulous idea, people turning to gardening to create a more sustainable life. Of course on the other hand, I, myself, do not have a green thumb, period. No plant in my house has ever survived in my presence. Myself and anything having to do with bugs do not mix. But yet, I started dreaming of abundant produce outside my front door (or even on a little patio someday says the truly urban girl) and of how wonderful that would be. Tomatoes, and herbs for fresh salads, Mmmm, this would be the ultimate treasure for me… so I was totally absorbed with this whole concept and things continued to flow. I am also a pretty deep thinker, and I really started to ponder things on a much greater level and discovered a few interesting things.
If we look back, my interest in such a topic for a blog was probably subconsciously already planted many moons ago. I grew up in NJ (hmm, the Garden State), and though I’m a bit more of an urbanite these days, (I lived in NYC way back when, and after a nearly a decade in Los Angeles, have made my way to Chicago recently) I can’t help but be reminded of a little gardening adventure from my childhood.
In various parts of NJ, and no, I do not mean the ones that are known for the fact we are the most densely populated state, we have the suburbs where each average looking house sometimes sits on up to 1 1/2 acres of land, as did mine growing up. It was common to see deer in our backyards, squirrels climbing about and the occasion raccoons that made headlines amongst the neighbors.
Now, no one in my family was an outdoorsy kind of person, not one. But my next-door neighbors on the other hand, were actually ALL avid gardeners. Doris and Werner to the left, Chuck and Grace to the right, and Bobby and Annette just on the other side of them. They all created huge plots in their backyards each year. I would watch them all summer long work their land, cherish the outdoors, pull weeds and enjoy the nutritious fruits of their labor while we spent days inside with a/c. Of course my favorite part was when they shared abundant tomato crops with our family. Somehow I have always known gardeners in general to be very generous, kind, giving people.
Well, one day, when I was about 15, as the summer was approaching I decided I too, was going to have a garden, even though I really knew nothing about it. I announced this decision, more like a decree, to my parents and demanded “my” land in the back be cultivated. That I had a little too much power in my household as a kid, well, that’s another enriched essay, LOL! It’s funny though, looking back as kids we never really appreciate all our parents do for us, but clearly I’m grateful that my parents placated and indulged me, and let me run my gardening self through it’s course. So my Dad went off to our neighbor Bobby’s house to borrow his rototiller to get started. I always wondered how my Dad knew how to use such a thing; I guess that’s just what Dads do.
This was no small feat. When I dream, I dream big! I wanted a garden to be as big as my neighbors, though I think we settled on about half the size (maybe 20 ft. x 30 ft., which was still a decent size for a beginning kid who really knew nothing). I was very excited because the way our properties were situated, I backed mine up right next to Grace and Chuck’s garden plot (probably benefiting form the nourished soil over the years, though I never knew of such things back thing).
My garden wasn’t without it’s challenges, I screamed whenever I saw bugs, they tricked me one day into putting my hands into the fertilizer to spread it along the soil only to tell me later that it was part horse manure, and then we, more like they, got a good laugh at my expense with their practical joke. (Hmmm, I just remembered a funny April fools joke me and my Dad played on them when we put a for sale sign on their yard and freaked out their adult aged kids when they came over, LOL – I’m cracking up remember this as I write it – LOL – ahhh life in the suburbs during a more innocent era of yesteryear – modern day disclaimer: do not try this at home, police would surely be involved, either that or a dozen real estate agents knocking wanting your business…) Anyway, I was so excited having planted about 40 different tomato plants and a few other foods I wanted to try. My Mom recently told me when I asked a few questions in preparing to write this article, how proud I was of my garden and how I screamed and through a tantrum the day I woke up to find the deer had eaten the tops of all my tomato plants! Clearly I was tormented, as I have no recollection of that incident and completely blocked it out of my memory, LOL. So it was off to the hardware store to build a fence that day and then the nursery to pick up a few replacement plants. The garden did quite well though. The cucumbers and cantaloupe didn’t quite make it, but I enjoyed bounties of tomatoes and lots of broccoli. Every morning that summer I went outside to pick fresh broccoli and ate it for lunch. Coincidentally I think that was the summer I started to loose a little weight too. Hmmm…the benefits of fresh food.
Well, coming back today some umpteen years later, I am now a vegetarian for the past few years and dabble in a more raw food diet from time to time as well. And I always think about having a garden someday. Well, ok, ok, ok, I admit it, let me rephrase that, I dream about how great it would be to HIRE someone to plant a garden FOR me! They can weed it, deal with bugs (ew, yuk) and I get to sit back and reap the benefits of using the land for such a divine purpose (or balcony or nice rooftop garden overlooking the skyline someday). So the most wonderful thing about the class, and my blog, is my new discovery of how many people there are actually offering such a service! I’m beyond thrilled!!! It’s amazing how a simple demand can create a whole new industry. There are people to help you on all levels, whether you know a little or a lot, to create a more sustainable existence. I am sure I would eventually pitch in and take over along the way, but it’s nice to know there is help to get started when neighbors aren’t close by. So, while at the current moment I’m on a bit of a journey and not quite settled in one place now, perhaps maybe someday soon I’ll attempt some tomatoes on my own and maybe a container garden or two on a patio first and work my way up to hiring my crew for my dream balcony or rooftop someday…and in the meantime I’ll keep writing about things that cross my path to keep my inspiration alive…
So there you have it, that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it. It’s interesting; the idea for this blog came into being as did a few other blogs around the same time. And though I call this one my hobby blog, somehow I think they were all, and continue to be, divinely guided writing exercises…..
THE END.
p.s. – “Enriched.” I told you so :-)
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Contact: YardGarden (at) gmail.com
