That’s what I said to my daughter, or maybe it’s what she asked me to reassure when everyone lost their mind and bought up all the toilet paper, sanitizer, meat and flour in the early spring of 2020. In what I hope to be the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic- now August 2, 2020 in the great U S of A- Why were we panicking then? There was nothing then, except in New York. Here we were in peaceful KY with a handful of cases announced daily but grocery stores were empty while we were “Healthy at Home”. I’m not really the panicky type so I didn’t panic. This is my 9th summer at this home and my garden has improved each year plus I’d bought seeds much earlier in the year so I figured we weren’t going to be starving. Turns out the shelves eventually refilled and now I can almost always find meat and toilet paper when I want (even bought a large bottle of sanitizer today – hooray!) so I didn’t have to rely on my garden after all.

This is good, because it’s not been a record setting year for me on the home-grown produce side. See, I like to envision myself as this urban farmer, fully capable of sustaining my family on my tiny quarter-acre city corner lot. The reality is, that’s a LOT more time and work than I think it will be and my harvests remain unremarkable in my mind. There have got to be better ways I know. I read some books, read some blogs. comb the internet and still, I really haven’t found any magic wands for urban farming. I still believe, there has to be something, someONE out there who has this down to a science and is teaching the world about it, but I just haven’t found them yet.

And so, this year, I decided that now more than ever, peeps need to know how to rely a little less on Kroger (I love you Kroger, that is a plug, not a dis) and a little more on their own backyard, so it is time for me to advance this blog. See, I took action over a year ago, bought the site, wrote a post or two, never published them and then as the summer wore on I thought – ‘I’m pitiful. My harvests are a laughingstock. Who am I to write about how to do this?’ But maybe, just maybe, someone will read this and post a comment like “Hey the REAL way to grow strawberries is “blah blah blah, check out this website” and THEN….it’ll work out after all, because my readers can be sent to a site that will help them, even if I don’t. Speaking of strawberries, someone Puh-LEAAASSEE help me find a better way than a raised bed. I want a suspended, inexpensive yet durable strawberry setup that works. That’s all I’m asking!!

So, here’s to hoping this will inspire someone to try growing some food and maybe discover a love of gardening. Here’s to hoping that next year, my harvest will be more impressive than this year. Here’s to hoping that hey – next year I’m growing for fun, not because we’re hiding out Healthy at Home again! Here’s hoping that you- my readers- will be turning over a new, happy, healthy and sustainable leaf and that maybe just a tiny bit, something you find here will aid your endeavors.

Cheers!