Grow!

It's windy as hale outside.  I usually love the wind..but this is a chilly wind.  I love warm, beach wind.  Or Santa Ana winds,  like I grew up with in California.  They would usually come along with brush fires, which isn't good.  But sometimes, they would just bring the smell of the Pacific Ocean or orange blossoms.

We had the wonderful gift of visiting our friends recently who live near Hamilton Pool, in Austin.    Before you walk into their home, they have this corridor ..with high ceilings,  huge windows, bold architecture and about 10 blooming citrus trees.  I immediately wanted to move in.  Just  into that room.   The aroma was so powerful, it transported me to my pre-teen years, in Orange, California.    After dodging the bullies, I would walk home and weave my way through the orchard that was across the street from the elementary school.   It felt like it went on for miles.  Now it houses a park and a subdivision.  But am I grateful for the few years that it held oranges.   I don't even remember picking any fruit.  I just loved the smell and the feel of being surrounded by something so heavenly.

Our backyard was small, comparatively, to our yard in Wisconsin.  We moved to sunny California from the frozen tundra in about 1975.  Remember the skating rink?  Well..it was replaced by a pool, a deck,  a diving board and concrete block walls.  The walls had bougainvillea crawling naturally.   There were all kinds of western/tropical plants in our yard, that we didn't have in the midwest.  This crazy tree hung over into our yard, with these bumpy fist-sized green things hanging from it.  Avocado!  Another had a small sweet fruit, that looked like a granny purse.  Fig!  Lemon and lime trees were abundant and natural in our neighborhood too.   The houses were right on top of each other, but the yards were full of vegetation, so it didn't feel like it, at least to me it didn't.  

Here in the Park of Cedar, we live in one of the numerous and growing subdivisions.  In Austin, just 20 minutes down the road, people are digging up their front yards and planting vegetables, fruit, herbs.  Something to grow, share and eat.  Something that makes better sense than grass.   Walt and our friend Paul,  built us a 4 x 8 planter box on our side yard, next to the park yesterday.    I am hoping to plant beans, tomatoes, peppers and herbs.  I want the kids to walk by on their way to school and watch things grow.  Then I want them to pick them..and eat them..and think that I don't see them..as they run to school.  I want them to smell fresh tomatoes.  I want them to run their hand over the basil and smell like it all day.  That is the Pinterest dream of mine for the summer.  Maybe they will remember the experience when they grow up.  I had lush gardens in Wisconsin.  Orange trees in Southern California.
Maybe they will like the rosemary smell along the walkway.  Or maybe they are allergic to herbs and my giving to the youth of the suburbs dream will be dashed.   We shall see if it is a Pinterest win or fail.

My guess is that we will get a letter from the home owner's association..because it's not in the book to make kids happy.  Ok..they are not that bad..but we will be the only ones with a visibly  raised bed of edibles on our block.   My long term goal is to start a community garden in the empty space next door, that now only houses fire ants.   We would have to figure out how to harvest rain water and use it for the garden...but that is a few years down the line.   Then  we could add a sculpture garden!  Get some dang art into the suburbs.    Then music in the garden!  Then community dinners in the garden!   Maybe a movie night, in the garden!!   But for now..it's just burrs and bites.  

I saw somewhere, that there is a town in Washington state that is digging up the parking strips and putting in edible gardens..for all to enjoy.  The before and after photos are stunning!  The greens!  The growth!  The flowers!  The expense!!  Jeeze.  It cost $1800.00 alone to dig up the grass and level the space.  I think the whole project cost $5000.00.  That's at least 2 bags full of fresh vegies from Whole Foods!   I planted snap peas along the side of our house.  They are sprouting up beautifully and I am so excited.  Walt said.."Can't you just buy a can for a buck?"  That went over real well.  So thus, now I have a 4 x 8 raised bed in the front yard.  It didn't cost five grand..but it wasn't free either.  It will be worth it though.  Unless we are forced to move, due to our breaking the plant rules.  That will be expensive.

Everyone in my coveted Sunset magazine who grows their own vegetables and fruit look fabulously happy.  They are all sun-kissed and shiny from digging in the dirt and bringing their harvest to the table.  I think that is exactly how this is all going to turn out.  Just watch.  Walt will be in his white cotton shirt,  khaki pants and hurarache sandals.  I will be in my backless white eyelet dress with my gold sandals.  You will even see a hint of a tan line on my back from me gardening in my bikini.    Our child will be in his all white summer dinner shirt and shorts and we will be gathered around our outdoor,  beautifully decorated dining table with our fresh grown zinnias.  We will have our American Eagle looking friends and neighbors sitting at the lush table, with their wine, from the local vineyard.  We will have Swarovski crystal chandeliers hanging from the trees, over our hand carved table.  No one will be sweaty.  No bugs are allowed and absolutely no one will be crabby.  I can't wait.

See what growing your own vegetables does for you?  Not only does it make the school kids happy, it makes you a better looking and more desirable human.   Why are the suburbs against people being happy and good looking?     I just don't understand.   Look for your invite around mid-July, when the tomatoes are ripe.  No cell phones are allowed and we will read poetry out loud, before our harvest.



Now get out and grow something.



Wednesday, March 26 4pm
Have to go to Lowes to buy dirt and compost.