Every extra waking moment I have I am in the garden, and it is time I never regret spending. I look around after a hard day of weeding and harvesting and bug identifying and I think, “I have never seen such beauty.”
Although my gardening journey started as a way to escape life’s pressures, it quickly grew into a passion to feed my family as much homegrown produce as possible. It’s an amazing feeling to open a jar of pickles or salsa, and know that it was grown in your backyard organically, with love.
The ARCD Market Gardeners Program has been everything I needed to fine tune the skills I had developed over the years. It taught me better methods than what I was using to control pests and disease organically, and boy they made all the difference in the world – I can barely keep up with my cucumber harvest! It helped me develop habits in the garden by starting a journal, which keeps me on track for managing what I need to do and when to do it.
Aside from a harvest to feed my family, we also wanted to venture into selling produce, but instead decided to concentrate on selling starter plants. We had our first plant sale Mother’s Day weekend and it was amazing! Not only did we see the income potential that is essentially sitting in our backyard, but meeting members of our community was so much fun, and the feed back was invaluable. So many people would rather buy from people like us rather than a big box store.
I made many connections too. Some that could help me grow a business, but another presented itself that allowed me to help others. Since the sale I have had 2 people that will bring me their produce to process for them, as health conditions keep them from doing it on their own. This got me thinking about other ways I could help our elderly continue to enjoy their gardens, and the ideas just overflow.
I believe gardening improves wellbeing, and in my case, it actually changed my life.
I wish everyone a happy summer and bountiful harvest!
With Love, Sue and Eric
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