Head Gardener Brad Jones on What the Garden Gives Us in Difficult Times

These are interesting times we’re currently living through. Even those of us with the blessing of good health have been filled with significant and often sober reflection.

So many elements of our routines which seemed so reliable have suddenly been upended; suddenly replaced with new and more awkward ones. “Face-to-face” is giving way to “screen-to-screen.” It seems the more virtual our personal interactions have become, the more we are daydreaming about things which aren’t virtual, things that are in fact real.

Of course, here at the Kitchen House and Culinary Garden, we’re still dreaming about one of the most fundamental and real things in life — food. Real food. Food whose path to our plate is noble and uncomplicated. We are not alone.

I’d wager there hasn’t been this much bread baked in home ovens in the last fifty years. While there are plenty of us staring into the pantry trying to envision possibilities for dinner, there are more than a few looking out the kitchen window to the potential of a vegetable patch.

Though we still live in a world of plenty, many are, for the first time, seeing the bottom of the barrel, or at least imagining it. It’s only natural that we would see growing at least some of our own food as a reassuring exercise. Even if hunger isn’t our motivation, finding a way to feel creative and productive can be inspiring. Whether tending a few pots on a balcony or patio, or taking on a full backyard, nurturing food out of soil seems fundamentally satisfying.

Seed companies around the country are feeling this shift. Though it doesn’t appear that anyone is buying up and hoarding all the carrot seeds, there is a bit of a crush of ordering going on. It seems everyone wants to get seeds into the ground and reap the benefits of delicious food emerging.

That said, food systems that have been feeding us for the last few generations, even when faltering, can’t casually be tossed aside. There will always be opportunity to reexamine the values and practices of agribusiness and our current situation will hopefully motivate us to make much needed changes to our food systems. Can growing more food at home be part of that change? Absolutely!

While acknowledging that no one is going to feed a family of four exclusively from a couple of raised beds in the backyard, we do know there are great things that happen in a garden that everyone can learn from. 

So, what’s in it for the dreamer who’s ordering cabbage seeds online? Fortunately, a lot! And most of it isn’t about the cabbage. I can’t tell you what your garden experience should be like. There are a million ways to do this. I can, however, tell you what our garden provides.

Primarily, it gives us a meaningful reason to be outside and with that comes the opportunity to connect to and participate in a little piece of the natural world.

We get to hear concerts of birdsong.

We get to feel the sun when it feels good, and when it doesn’t we get to anticipate and embrace even the slightest breeze or respite of shade.

We get to breathe in the freshness of all that’s growing in the garden.

There are dozens of fragrances there that can’t be bottled or turned into a candle.

We get to sink our fingers in to soft cool soil, feeling the chocolate cake-like crumble of a healthy loam.

We have a reason to be careful and gentle; stepping gingerly between crowded plants; pricking out tiny seedlings to transplant and weaving fragile tomato vines through trellises.

We have a reason to be strong and exhausted; spreading mountains of mulch; turning piles of compost and toting bucket after bucket of water.

By the time we actually taste the figurative and literal fruits of our labor, the garden has already given us plenty. Although the taste of truly fresh fruits and vegetables is often a revelation, what happens along the way to that first bite brings its own satisfaction. It can change the way we think about nature and natural processes. It can even change the way we think about ourselves.

Yes, go plant a garden or even just a few seeds. Just remember, that experience can be so much more than just taste of a homegrown tomato. It can be a taste of real life, something we could all use a little bit more of these days.