The Seeds We Plant Grow
I planted the first week of September, just days after returning home from Round America with a Duck. I had been helping take care of other people’s farms, gardens, ranches and eco-spirituality centers across the USA since March while traveling via bike, buses and trains in search of hope during the hottest year on Earth. (See their reviews, if interested. See TikToks tagged #RoundAmericaWithADuck. Release of my new book about the journey is scheduled for Earth Day, 2024. See my other books: Food for My Daughters, Traveling at the Speed of Bike and Bucket List.)
Regenerative, organic gardening is year-round. For my fall/winter/spring garden here in USDA Plant Hardiness Grow Zone 8A (recently officially reclassified from 7B due to climate change), I chose my usual cool-weather cover crop mix of legumes, grains and crops with long tap roots. These include Austrian field peas, hairy vetch, crimson and berseem clovers, winter wheat, triticale, driller daikon radish, forage collards, and yellow mustard.
Cover crops are miracle workers. All of them suppress weeds, reduce soil erosion, and add beauty and interest to our shared environment. Some also convert nitrogen from the atmosphere into a form usable by plants. Some scavenge for minerals and nutrients and provide cover for beneficial insects to overwinter. Some drill deep holes to improve aeration and water access. Some feed my family, neighbors, food pantry clients, and me. The remaining biomass, when cut and left to decompose for two weeks before the next planting, further nourishes the soil by feeding microbial life and grow the garden’s (and thus, world’s) fertility.
And don’t even get me going on turnips (which weren’t in my cover crop mix but I added them). I also planted garlic, which is now starting to sprout and will be ready for harvest in June 2024.
All would remind me that planting a seed is the ultimate act of faith in the future, and that the seeds we plant — in gardens, in life — do, indeed, grow. Growing my organic gardens, as I’ve been doing since the tragedies of 9/11/01, remind me to keep believing in tomorrow.
What else will grow if we continue to believe in it, and ourselves?
Trust the journey.
P.S. Note to my neighbors(which may give you tips on what to write to yours): The greens are great added raw to smoothies or chopped and then sautéed or microwaved as a side dish or base to a one-dish meal, or tossed in soups. The daikon radishes are great diced or sliced and then roasted at 350 degrees for an hour with olive oil, salt and pepper. They can also be eaten raw chopped in salads. Lemon balm and mint, when available, are great snipped fresh onto salads (or even oatmeal or a yogurt parfait — so good) or used to make pesto or tea. The nutritional profiles of these crops are astounding.
I cover the Sharing Garden when the temperature is expected to dip below 30 degrees, and also on Tuesdays/Wednesdays so the landscapers in the neighborhood don’t blow the topsoil away. If you came by when it was covered, come again soon!
FYI, all my home, community, refugee, school and other gardens have always been 100% organic, with no chemical residue on any of the crops. I eat from my gardens daily, and have for years, as have our children. Fun facts: we averaged $2,500 worth of fresh food from our around our entire home right here in this neighborhood every year while they were growing up. In the last ten years, however, I have documented a 90% loss of pollinators and have thus reduced my gardens significantly because of the dramatically-reduced yields, especially in the summer when the majority of crops are pollinator-dependent.
Please keep dogs away from the garden. Although urine is high in nitrogen and can be used in a garden setting (I don’t use it), it must be diluted 10:1 or else it will burn crops.
Eat from the Sharing Garden at your own risk, especially if you have allergies or contraindications with medication or conditions. If you’d like some tips for how to grow your own food, see my book, Food for My Daughters (foodformydaughters.wordpress.com). (See free bike classes at TravelingAtTheSpeedOfBike.com.)
Trust the journey — Pattie
