August 9, 2021

by drplasticpicker

If you have the opportunity to stop by our front and back garden, you will see proof that our family lives a regenerative life. The cherry tomatos in front are sweet and spilling over their cages. The tomatos in the back are perfectly shaped and ripening on their vine, and are sweeter than any medium size tomato I promise you’ve ever eaten. We have little eggplants the size of your palm, because that’s the size they are supposed to be. The squash that we grow, their leaves that spill over from the planters fuel those beautiful gourds. Every last bit is used to make a savory plant-based dish. Peppers are growing. We have fennel for the first time. The bounty that is our life is beautiful and I am grateful for each piece of edible fruit and vegetable that comes from our garden.

And the bounty that is this year is due to compost. Above is the picture of our compost yesterday that I helped my mother-in-law harvest. We spent the weekend on and off replanting fruits trees, blueberry bushes and succulents from the rooftop garden. The rooftop garden is too harsh. Nothing lives up there. Those plants needed to be rescued. To me it’s somewhat a metaphor for my career. The HMO parking lot structure is also a too harsh climate. It’s been hard to get anything to grow up there. There are other HMO denizens trying. I have a couple of succulents still alive. But I’m about to give up on the HMO parking structure planters. I’m about to give up on the roofdeck garden.

But in trying to plant on the HMO parking structure harsh rooftop planters and my own windy roofdeck, I’ve learned a lot about plants and myself. I did grow something and I did sequester some carbon into the soil. But I’m shifting gears and going to try to grow plants in my family’s balcony North Park office. There is a balcony that is somewhat neglected that I think could use some plants and some love. It will bring happiness to people who I actually know, and hopefully bring them some wellness.