Honesty about Gardening
By potatobiker on Oct 6, 2010 in Real Life--I DO Have One
I really would love to grow my own food. It’s THE right thing to do. I believe all of us should grow our own food, and I want to do the right thing for the Earth and sustainability and my own personal health and budget. Honestly. I don’t want to have to buy it at the store; ug about the options, I am not always sure what I’m looking at, and I can’t trust those places… and of course, buying can get expensive, especially if I just let it go bad because I’m the only one who will eat it and there’s no real time to.
BUT, all that aside. I don’t think I LIKE gardening. Maybe I would if I had the whole day at home and that became a scheduled part of what I did: water, pull weeds, turn soil, pick at bugs, mulch, study sunlight, soil, and water needs…I would want to go all out, do it really well and really right. But I don’t like it enough to prioritize it into the little amount of time I have. The thought of learning about and planning for growing seasons feels overwhelming (much less the 10zillion other things I’d want to learn), not easy at all when viewed with the lifetime of other things I’d rather be learning or doing, or that require my attention.
I have so much respect for you garden growers. Truly. I don’t know how you fit your hobbies into your daily life at all. I am completely lost and cluttered and overwhelmed and barely one-thirding everything I am involved in.
I guess what I mean is, despite my desire to be all the things that gardening represents to me…the answer is just No right now. I’m not happy with that answer, but I have to face who I am right now as well. This isn’t what I want to learn right now. This isn’t what I want to prioritize.
I wrote this hoping it would help let go of the guilt about it…it hasn’t.
Cindy | Oct 15, 2010 | Reply
Often times the garden gets neglected. I’m lucky to check it once a week. I think you should consider all the things you are already doing towards sustainability and green living. You do A LOT. In fact, I think you should write a list of all the things that you do for the planet and being a good green person and then the list of all the not so good things you do. I bet you’d be surprised at what a good person you really are. I think Mother Nature will forgive you on the gardening thing.
Chris | Oct 18, 2010 | Reply
Don’t beat yourself up about it. You’re just not ready or willing or able to have a garden now. We tried doing the gardening thing for years with no success…until this year! Maybe not now — just accept it — but maybe later, a few years from now (if you’re ready then, maybe living in a new place).