I’m proud to be included in the recent issue of Shameless Magazine, an independent magazine for strong, smart, and sassy teen girls that breaks the mold of the typical diet tips and beauty trends magazine.
I interviewed with writer Caroline Pelletier on growing food which can be found on pages 18-19.
Here’s what I said in response to her question, “Why is gardening fun and fulfilling?”
Gardening just IS fun. I wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t fun. Because it can also be hard work and challenging. It’s problem-solving, and learning patience. It’s learning to accept failure as a part of learning. It’s becoming an observer. That part can be really exciting, especially as you make discoveries or come to understand and appreciate things in a new way. It’s creating space for wonder in your life and finding that part of your child brain that may have been lost or crushed in the challenges of adult life.
I wish I had been shown gardens and gardening in a meaningful way as an adolescent.
When I was in jr. and sr. high school, my mom built and tended her gardens. She’d invite me out into the garden, but it was always to weed. Never to plant. Never to examine. Never to think, design, reflect, become, create, problem solve, discover, wonder. Only to pluck and carve out weeds. Or turn the compost pile. Whoopee.
At the time, I thought her invitations were absurd. And selfish, actually. (As an adult, in my own gardens and in community gardens and in gardens where I volunteer …and in random beds in the city as I wait for traffic to part so I can cross the street… weeding is one of my favorite tasks. Compost one of my favorite commodities.) When I’d ask about planting, she’d say, “You won’t take care of it” (since I didn’t want to weed her beds). I think it mattered, then, that it wasn’t my garden. Our garden. A family or female bonding experience. It was Mom’s Garden. I had no stake in it, so to speak.
I discovered the joy in gardening a few years ago on my own. And while I don’t have any children yet, when I do, I want to offer my children (and other young people in my community) opportunities to discover what you’ve articulated in your interview. That gardening is a life skill. A chance to do and become and renew all those things that you’ve said. A chance to uncover who you are, what you value, and how to seek, develop, acquire and care for idea(l)s that matter to you.
Do you ever think about all the young people (or any age of people) that you positively effect by just being YOU and by doing what you (i hope) love?
How cool is THAT?!?!
I just love your approach to gardening… I’ve gotten so many good ideas from your book and website… it’s made me take on a whole new outlook for my own plants and garden!! And it’s great how you’re inspiring a whole new generations of gardeners… it’s a revolution baby!!! One plant at a time….
Alexa- that reminds me of my experience with my mother and gardening. She had allergies, so she’d cut back all the shrubs and I’d get called out to do clean up. I hated it! One time though, she let me buy a little pot of Bleeding Hearts…it was a completely different side. It ended up dying when summer came along, because those stinkin’ garden tags are so vague. Apparently Sun/shade means not full sun.
Anyways, I would have loved to had access to a magazine during my preteenage time that hadn’t been filled with articles on make up, boys and those embarrassing moments stories. You would think they could come up with something better.
Congratulations on making it to a magazine! I love your answer to that question, it’s so true and I only discovered it myself recently (a few months ago).
My dad was the one who introduced me to gardening. He got me to weed, mostly, but once I got a little older, he also let me mow the lawn. I remember some of my fondest childhood memories are picking home grown fruits and vegetables for dinner.
I lost that in my teenage and young adult years (admittedly to boys and makeup), but I’ve just rediscovered it and I’m loving it.