Food...Glorious Food...For me and for you.

The sun came out today so I decided that today I should walk through the garden.

I went outside and discovered the following...

 MORE RADISHES!!

 The potatoes have begun to pop up.

PEAS!!!!  Can you believe it?!

Mr. Ayres and I have made a decision about how we will use every space in and around our home.  This includes the space that the HOA has rules about...

THE FRONT YARD.

The front yard continues to be a point of contention for us.  The first year we tried to grow food but then we received complaints and a notice.  We are done not growing food in spaces that we can use to provide for our family.  

This space receives the most amount of sun.  We will be able to grow strawberries.  We have planted herbs and lettuces.

It has a portion of shade in one section where we can grow our cabbages.

2 years ago we planted a small rhubarb and it cannot be seen from the road. My spouse divided it and I forgot to give him instructions as to where to place the part he divided from the original plant.

It turns out we will have more rhubarb than expected this year and are glad of it.

We have also added these...

Free!!  A generous neighbor will be moving and gave us 5 of these barrels. We have used 2 for cabbages and will use 3 for tomatoes.

I was asked recently why I choose to do all of this.  The individual was concerned about my health, which is not great at the moment.  I sat under these today to ponder my reasonings..

When we were young we were children that spent our time eating foods from a food bank.  We ate free lunches during the summer at a local elementary school.  There was many a red apple and more than a few bologna sandwiches on wonder bread. My mother made anything and everything from a can. Even if it did not come from a can,  she could make it look as if it did. We grew to have allergies to many foods and aversions to things due to circumstances I will spare you from.  We should have been spared from them as well but such is life.

So here is my honest answer and not the one that I so often give.

I grow food every year because for the first time in my life I can relinquish even a small amount of fear I have harbored my whole life.  I grow my own food because I fear hunger and this is my way to heal even a small part of my past.

My heart was full in the sunshine.  My mind and heart were honest with each other in that brief moment.  So now I have sent this upon the wind (as my Abuela once called it) in hopes of healing.

May the Lord bless you and keep you all.

Athena