Yes. Ask any avid gardener and February is the time to think about the garden. It’s starting to get late actually. Okay, the truth is we never really stop thinking about growing things. What do I put in the garden this year? Should I expand the garden? What seeds do I have left? When can I start growing things outside again?! People have told me I’d get bored living in a place that’s warm all the time, but I think I could get by for a good long while if there was year round gardening.

For myself, I’m not sure what my garden situation will be this year. I know I’ll have at least one and will be helping with at least one. Maybe this is the year to launch myself as a garden consultant. It’s an idea I had over a year ago and I wasn’t sure if it was a viable idea or something I could actually do. Then, a week or so ago a thing popped up on my Facebook feed about how to become a garden consultant and that light went on again. I mean, if Facebook says it’s a viable thing, then it must be so, right? In many ways I already have my dream job at Topsy Farms. I’m outside most of the time doing farm chores and other farm work and an opportunity has come for me to also use my brain and creativity to launch something very meaningful that gets more people connecting to the land. I feel like I’m learning new things all the time and growing as a person. Adding in something that helps people grow their own food and learn how to grow their own food would be icing on that cake. Truly.

My dream when I had the idea, right around when the pandemic was just taking off, was just to help people grow food and feel more secure with their food supply. Food insecurity is a real thing – a thing I happen to know about. Not just academically, but in real life. I have felt that struggle. Just over 15 years ago I lost 20 pounds over a summer because we couldn’t afford to eat properly. I’ve always been a gardener but at that time I didn’t have a garden. We lived in a small basement apartment, my first child was turning one and my partner and I simply didn’t have a place for a garden, nor the wherewithal to really lift ourselves up. We paid our rent and food was scarce. I remember selling a Spanish textbook for $40 just to afford something. I’m pretty certain the person who bought it did so mostly out of pity; she wasn’t even sure at the time that she’d be taking the course. We’d made our choices though and they weren’t all good ones. We had spent lots of money on bad things and got ourselves into that state of being. Academically I know that food banks started in Canada in 1984 as an emergency response effort with a mandate to close. Almost 40 years later food bank use continues to rise in one of the most privileged countries in the world. My experience is mild and just a drop in the bucket compared to many people. I am privileged enough to have family and community that give me security in a way many don’t have. Food insecurity is a problem – one that we should be able to do something about. Connection to growing food seems like as good a place as any to start. (We can go into a broader sociopolitical discussion surrounding our current food system and how it’s failing later.)

So here it is, February 2022 and I’m wondering what to grow and where to grow it. I don’t really have proper space or light to start things inside but I can dream about it. I can imagine trays of soil under lights. In my mind’s eye I can see little bits of green poking through the soil; small fragments of hope to guide me to longer days and summer sunshine. Even just in the mind’s eye it’s beautiful, and thrilling. And I can’t wait to get dirty in gardens again. Come join me.