My “mid-life crisis” seems to be pushing me in some new directions. Limited thinking is peeling off like old chipping paint on the outside of a turn-of-the-century Victorian house. So, while this is NOT the perfect year for me to start a garden, I’m doing it anyway. We rent a house, and very likely we will not be here next summer. All we have is the Now… and my limited knowledge about gardening (this will be my second attempt, first one at the last house was a total flop)… Fueled by A) tidbits of gardening wisdom I get from my friends and acquaintances, B) desire to get more sunshine on my skin (my Vitamin D status is still un-healthfully low, and C) this TED video on subversive plots / backyard gardening. Roger Doiron makes the case for backyard gardening. I love the bit about how all the work should not be on the women, but men should help out, too. (Inspiring thought for me in my traditional female-homemaker role, though here we are so caught in the nuclear family net that most of this work will be falling to me.) Roger founded Kitchen Gardeners International: “We are a nonprofit community of 24,000 people from 100 countries who are growing our own food and helping others to do the same.”
A backyard garden fits in the weave of the lifestyle choices I’ve already come to appreciate: teaching my children where their food comes from, appreciating the Earth, slowing down, eating more whole and Primal foods, getting more sunshine and barefoot connection to the ground, lower-cost organic food, and family time together. So, I’m adopting a “Just Do It” attitude, knowing once it gets rolling we’ll not be able to ignore it too much: it will get us Out There.
KGI has exactly what I need as a beginner: a garden planner tool with reminders of when to sow, etc. It’s FREE for the first 30 days. I’ll be digging into this over the next few weeks.
” …it takes a very long time to learn the ins and outs of gardening. One must be very kind to oneself and unflustered by incomprehensible failures. .” -rvisser on KGI.org
Our Prime account gives us shopping options with free shipping, and we are often able to get the items we want shipped for free. Saves all the hunting around and burning petrol to shop local stores. Still, it’s UPS delivered but, we don’t have printers that make things like in Neal Stephenson’s 
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