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Rissy from @MeetUsInOurGarden
17 Plays1 year ago
In this episode, Rissy and I chat about her journey into gardening, mothering, and developing your intuition in the garden to translate to your everyday life. Rissy is a seasoned gardener out of Rhode Island, she tells stories about winter crops and late nights kept warm by the greenhouse heater and a cup of tea. A new friend was found by way of the garden.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:05
Speaker
All right, my friends, we are back for episode four of the Trellis podcast. This is my second interview episode. Today I have my wonderful new friend, Rissy here. She is on Instagram at meet us in our garden. I am so excited to talk to Rissy because she is a Rhode Islander, born and raised. So I am so happy to be talking to you today.
Childhood Garden Memories
00:00:28
Speaker
Do you want to start off by just telling us a little bit about your little garden self? Hey, everybody.
00:00:36
Speaker
So, let's think. I've always been around gardens, like since I was a kid, but I was never actually really super interested in it, in gardening. I wanted to be with my friends or playing sports or whatever, but my dad always kept a garden. And he tried to get us involved.
00:01:01
Speaker
But we're kids, so. Yeah, so we planted the carrots and helped harvest things. I don't remember a ton, but what I do remember is we had a pool at the time, and he would yell at us for splashing at the end where the garden met the pool.
00:01:25
Speaker
I don't want to feed it that. As a kid, you're like, whatever, dad, I'm splashing. I'm busy. That is so funny. My goodness. So from there. Yeah. So my, my neighbors all always had gardens and even my neighbor was an older gentleman. He always tried to get us involved. And as I got older, um,
00:01:51
Speaker
my dad did away with our garden. And he still, our neighbors still had like a huge, huge garden. And he would always ask me for help out there.
Gardening in Adulthood
00:02:03
Speaker
So he'd have me like, dragging peat moss bags around, like, and then he'd pay me like in plants. Oh my God. Yeah. So we'd have all these plants like on our deck. And they were great. And he has this awesome greenhouse.
00:02:20
Speaker
when he hadn't on some greenhouse, he passed away now for a few years. But he taught me quite a few things. And then, like some years passed, and I think about 14 or so years ago, it was 23 or 24. I restarted our garden in our backyard. And my dad was like, he's like, I will you can totally do it. He's like,
00:02:47
Speaker
I'll tell you what to do. I'll show you what to do, but you're going to take care of it." I mean, he took care of it too. He was basically like, you're going to learn and you're going to do it. So I started everything from seed. For the most part, we got some starts too. I was growing them in our bathroom. I love that. In the bathroom, it has a skylight. It's warm in there. It was like perfect.
00:03:15
Speaker
And then I put the seedlings out on our deck and grew them in like makeshift greenhouses that I made out of like windowsills and saran wrap and like fish tanks. Love that. And like my grandfather had a garden too. I have some memories of his garden but mostly like um like uh
00:03:44
Speaker
like snapping the ends off of green beans at the kitchen table with my grandmother. And I can remember seeing his garden and he'd take us for rides in his wheelbarrow, but again, like not super interested until I was like 23 or 24. And I got really into it, like really fast, like making all the makeshift greenhouses and we
00:04:12
Speaker
So my dad taught me how to rototill it out, and the old Italian is very heavy on the rototiller. Big time, so I still even have his rototiller.
00:04:30
Speaker
Oh, that is so cool. So that's, I think it started maybe like a 12 by like 12 garden, maybe a little bit bigger than that, but not much.
00:04:51
Speaker
And then it just kind of snowballed. As it does. So the next year, I got my first pop up greenhouse. And we put a heater shelves like mulch on the bottom. It was like a little mini like tropical rainforest. And I had that greenhouse for quite a few years. And then we about seven years ago, I got
00:05:20
Speaker
this, I don't know, it's like polycarbonate. It's like the ones that you see from Harbor Freight. So I got that one, like I upgraded. But every year, the garden just seemed to like, accidentally get bigger, you
Gardening Preferences and Influences
00:05:35
Speaker
know? The edges, where they go, you know, we don't have control of those things. What are you gonna do? What are we doing with this base here? Yeah.
00:05:46
Speaker
So just kind of expanded and expanded. And then my neighbor behind us was moving and he was like, Hey, we did the property lines and realized that six feet of what we think is our property is actually yours. And it was, yes. And it was all like rhododendron. No, those other things. What are they? Rose and Sharon.
00:06:15
Speaker
No way. Oh my god. So, um, the man, Mr. Midas, I call him Mr. Midas. He, him and my cousin's husband dug them all out for me. Wow. Yeah, like, I mean, at least 20 of them dug them all out for me. Oh my. Can you do me a small favor? And I get to expand. What is that? It's like, I'll get you beer and pizza. Is that cool?
00:06:46
Speaker
Please help me. So yeah, so they dug it all out. Wow. That's, that's like the last major expansion we did. And we fenced it in and not in anything fancy, just like rabbit fence, but I do everything in ground. I have a couple raised beds now. But other than that, everything's in ground.
00:07:10
Speaker
Is there a reason that you prefer ingrown versus raised beds? I think that it's just what I grew up with. And it's what I learned. And it's just it's how my dad taught me. And I think it just like ingrained that way. And I
00:07:29
Speaker
Yeah and I do prefer it and the two raised beds they're really nice but I feel like my space is almost like limited like to like that little area which I mean it works for some people and so our raised beds I think I have like carrots and beets going in one and then the other one I have some strawberries and like some onions
00:07:52
Speaker
But like extra onions, like the leftovers, the main garden. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. I feel like I can do a lot with them, but I do. I do prefer the in-ground gardening. Yeah. I think that people get really caught up on like.
00:08:12
Speaker
maybe like not over researching but sometimes they like really force like doing one way or another and like at the end of the day it's just like what feels good for you like if you like growing in a raised bed like do that if you want to throw things straight in the ground like do that um so i think it's interesting that you talk about i really like how you keep saying like i wasn't really interested i wasn't interested but you still have these like core memories of like the garden
00:08:38
Speaker
And I think that that's so beautiful because people probably have like a lot of people probably have those like there was gardening was really more predominant I think maybe when we were younger and kind of fell off for a little while and now this generation has like gotten so into it again but placing those little I'm gonna sound silly but placing those seeds in your life
00:09:01
Speaker
It's really like allowed you to like, all of a sudden you're like, Oh my God, you hit a point in your life that you're like, Oh, I do want this or am I am interested in this. And I think we're just talking about our kids. So it's just sweet. I always like to think like, whether Nora gardens or not is up to her, but I am proud to know that she will
00:09:18
Speaker
Be it she can pick it up if she wants to because she was around it she got to see it happen I want do you feel that way with your kids like are they involved in the garden? I do so Our
Gardening with Children
00:09:29
Speaker
six-year-old she Kind of the past couple years. She wasn't very interested, but I wasn't gonna force her
00:09:37
Speaker
She just wanted to plant like her own things, like in little pots and stuff. And that's fine. And then she wanted to harvest stuff. So she's still involved in that way because harvesting is like the best part. It was sad because she was so interested from, I always had her in the carrier out in the greenhouse and everything, but at the same time I was like, she'll come back to it. And then this year,
00:10:04
Speaker
She's like, can we go out there? What can we plant today? She's not trying to plant 35 tomato plants. Like, she'll help me plant, like, one. Then she's like, I got other stuff to do. Yeah, she's like, I want to go build a fort in process of playing, like, I don't know if you know that shell alone.
00:10:21
Speaker
Yes! Shelby, she plays alone. She plays alone. Oh my god! That is absolutely incredible. This is amazing. This is like four inches. She's four inches in the vegetable garden and she forages like the herbs.
00:10:39
Speaker
she makes me pee that is the sweetest thing in the entire oh my god that's so good really too that is fantastic oh man i love that so much do you feel like um
00:10:53
Speaker
So your knowledge of plants comes a lot from your family, from your dad. Do you like where else do you find your resources? Like where are you like an Instagram person? You'll find it on there. Are you like reading through books? Like what kind of avenues do you feel best? Like you're gonna ask dad first, I get that. And then like, where do you go from there?
00:11:13
Speaker
So after dad, if he's not really sure, I definitely hit up the internet. The internet is such a great resource in so many ways. I don't stick to just one thing, like one particular site or one particular person, just because there's so much information out there. You can find anything out. I have a lot of good resources for books in our personal library too. That's awesome. And I feel like you can't go wrong with a great gardening book.
00:11:43
Speaker
or like a bookshelf. I need this one. This one's about a different kind of plants. Yes, that's absolutely fantastic. I definitely agree with that. It's like, and you trace back to like your own garden intuition as well. Like I think if you sit out there for a minute and kind of like, think about your situation and kind of embody your plant for a second. Like I find I personally feel like I can figure out a lot of problems myself just from spending some time out there.
00:12:13
Speaker
So that's I was going to get into that. Like, also. A lot of it is that going on that intuition and. Feeling like, I don't know, you just become connected to your yard in a different way. And you know how your yard works. Like.
00:12:36
Speaker
my neighbor like she's got a beautiful garden too and I ask her a lot of questions too and I come to the gram of course but yeah I didn't know a lot of stuff like I started our Instagram account in late 2020 like October and I was like oh my gosh like there's a whole freaking world out here I was like my own little guarding bubble yes it's so true yeah and that but
00:13:06
Speaker
I don't know, like the way I share our information, it's stuff that I've learned over the years and about our yard. And I'm just hoping that it can help somebody else. And even my neighbor has started doing some of the things that I'm doing and she'll like, she'll even sit in her garden. Like, I'm like, have you ever just sat in your garden and just like, I don't know, you're like almost listening to it and kind of feeling it and
00:13:36
Speaker
Like I've been saying it since like we laid chicken poop in the garden this year. I just feel like it's going to be a freaking great season. I just get like this energy when I'm out there and I want to plant like everything and like I'm running out of space. And I just, I think going off your intuition and like, if somebody is telling you to do something and you don't feel quite right about it, there's probably a reason for that. Mm-hmm.
00:14:06
Speaker
I definitely agree with that. Yeah, just like in your everyday life, there's probably a reason you're getting that kind of off feeling. So you gotta go with your gut instinct.
Winter Gardening Challenges
00:14:17
Speaker
Definitely. I think that's such a great lesson that comes from gardening is that like, it's easier to connect your gut instincts to something kind of outside of yourself, like attaching it to your garden and listening to yourself there. And then I think you find yourself internally being like, you know what, actually I do trust myself because I grow some cool stuff outside.
00:14:35
Speaker
I know what I'm doing. So I definitely agree with that like intuition. I think it can be hard for new gardeners to know what that means. Could you, maybe this is a little bit of an odd question, but could you describe the feeling that you have when you know you're doing something right in the garden? Like how does your body feel? How does your, you know, your emotions, like what does that feel like to you? It's like almost for me, it's
00:15:04
Speaker
i get this sense of like calm like in because gardening can be really chaotic at times and because like especially like if you're a mom too like you're like thinking about the kids you're thinking about like your house and like what you're gonna like cook for dinner like say and like your mind's kind of going but when you're out there like you can kind of turn off but when you start to plant something and you're like
00:15:33
Speaker
wait a minute like what if instead like for instance this year for an example i um started to plant our tomatoes and i was like i just for some reason i feel like i need to put something into into the hole i'm digging and i never ever do that ever and i felt kind of weird about like not doing it
00:16:00
Speaker
And then this way I did it and this kind of calmness came over my body. And I think that's the best way I can describe it. It's like there's so much chaos and then you just almost focus in on what you're doing and you kind of like breathe like almost through the steps like you're doing yoga almost.
00:16:23
Speaker
Hey guys, I hope you're enjoying the episode so far. The conversation is just going to skip a little bit right here. We had to stop recording on our first night while my daughter woke up and we jumped right back into our conversation on the second night. It is in a different spot. Oh, we're switched it up. I love that. That's like crop rotation or something, right? Yeah, like a little bit, whole garden rotation. So, um,
00:16:52
Speaker
The garden is actually, I don't know, is it parallels like this? So like almost like in a tea to where the top of the tea to where the garden used to be. So part of it is the old garden, but he had filled it in with grass.
00:17:15
Speaker
Oh, really? Oh my God. You said that he had kind of stopped working on it, but I didn't realize that he like, he did away with it. Wow. That's crazy. Do you remember how old you were when he did away with that? Were you still home or was this like later on? No, so I had to be like, I had to be like probably like pre-teen, like 12 or even like a teenager, like early teenager, 12, 13. Yeah. And then I restarted it when I was 24.
00:17:45
Speaker
23, 24, and I'm 38 now. So I had had some gardening under the belt before I had our daughter. And I got our, the greenhouse we have now, it's like one of those polycarbonate greenhouses that I see on, from like tractor supply, or, yeah, I love it. I can't think of the name of it right now. It's like the longest the
00:18:13
Speaker
It's along the same track. And I know exactly where you're talking about. There it is. Here we go. I had gotten it there and the year after we found out we were pregnant with her.
00:18:30
Speaker
was the greenhouse mostly so that you could do so you're in Rhode Island so you won't like your gardening season is a very specific chunk of time so starting seedlings beforehand is like very important for you yeah which is i'm thankful i don't have no offense thanks i don't have to do that here it is such an
00:18:50
Speaker
I hate to say it's added work. It's not that it's added work, but it's very different work to start seeds and be prepared for when the season warms up than it is to throw seeds in the ground. Can you talk about seed starting? That was very different when I started being a mom. I would go out there in the middle of the night, I had a light spot light set up in there. I love that.
00:19:11
Speaker
So I was out there in like January, February, and like I still go out there that early and put the seedlings out there and I have it heated and I use humidity domes now that helps a ton.
00:19:24
Speaker
Yeah, I can imagine. So like a greenhouse and a greenhouse. I love that. But you gotta do that though there. It's like in January though. So that is so much time to be committing to these plants beforehand. It really is. And some things I do start in January. I did not do that this year with the new baby. I just, I couldn't. It was too much.
Homegrown Food and Family Health
00:19:48
Speaker
I'm kind of grateful I had them five years apart. I don't know how I could do that and keep the house together as much as I can and have the garden. Yes. I do feel the same way that being out there is your place to be. Yes. I feel that 100%. Being out there, the greenhouse,
00:20:18
Speaker
the garden, it's kind of my sanctuary. So when I'm starting seeds in February, it's rejuvenating almost and then it's cold out and I'm going in there and I can be barefoot and
00:20:37
Speaker
like take my jacket off and it's nice and cozy. I bring tea with me. It's just, it's a place where I can relax and it comes naturally to me to want to teach people on Instagram too. I want people to learn how to do this because gardening changed for me in a really good way when I had my daughter.
00:21:02
Speaker
I wasn't really thinking about what I was eating in terms of chemicals in what I was eating or if it was organic or processed. I wasn't really thinking about that too much. And then when I had her, I was like, I don't want to feed her baby food that I buy in the store. I want to make that. Then I was like, I want to make that from the garden. She's going to be six months old.
00:21:28
Speaker
by the time we're getting zucchini and stuff like that. I want her to have all these fresh and wholesome, nutritious food. And it made me look at food very differently. And it made me look at my garden very differently. Not just something I was doing out of tradition because my past family members have done it with more something now
00:21:56
Speaker
that I was actually feeding my family with, even though I had always been feeding them. Yeah, but seeing that like the actual connection where you're like, this is I put these things in the ground, these things grow, I pick them, I put them back in my body, like completing that cycle is like, that's very rewarding in a garden for sure. Yeah, incredibly rewarding. And then definitely her eating the food and loving it.
00:22:22
Speaker
And now to see our son, he loves to eat. So I'm like, giving him all the things. She's picking stuff and letting him eat it. And we don't use any sprays or anything in our garden. So we can just go out there, or they can, and pick whatever and eat it without having to worry. Maybe just worry about a little bug or something.
00:22:48
Speaker
Yeah, you can eat some bugs. That's probably good for them. It's like protein or something. No, that's so fantastic. I think we love it. Yes. Yes, it is eat dirt kids. It's okay. I love that. I think like, especially so like, I'm a big part. So we moved to Florida for my husband's job. But like, it was such an easy yes for us because like, I
00:23:13
Speaker
three months is not enough sunshine for me. Those dark months, those winter months were just very long. And I think a lot of people feel that, that live in climates that are like that, those winter months can be really long and really hard. But when you have a garden,
00:23:29
Speaker
and you do, you start these seeds while it's still cold out or the sun is not there yet, but all of a sudden you can see June. You're literally watching June grow. Maybe that sounds a little silly, but those sprouts, you're like, I know that my hands are going to touch this exact plant in the sunshine, in the soil. June is right here. So I think that that's a really
00:23:51
Speaker
what a rewarding part of like living in New England and getting to start seeds so early is like, that's actually a really beautiful thing. I guess I didn't take that into account thinking about like living in Florida. I'm like, I just throw seeds outside. But like, I don't have that experience anymore of like, Oh, the sunshine's like right here, like in my greenhouse or on my counter, like whatever it is. So that's really beautiful. I love that. It's like hopeful. Yes, that's a really good way to put it. It really is hope that you like
00:24:21
Speaker
you literally are like you're starting something and you know you're not reaping any benefit from it until like months and months and months down the road and like as maybe a mom it's like the next day is like tough sometimes you're like i gotta make it to like the next hour the next day and like looking out at your garden be able to like push your brain out to like months ahead of time or even like over a year ahead of time is very um it opens your brain up a little bit to like think about more than just like the next five minutes which is really nice
00:24:50
Speaker
It is nice. And I think once you've been gardening for so long, again, it comes naturally. You know, those cycles just happen. Yeah, they totally just happen. And you can feel them coming. And it kind of goes back to that intuition, like the same intuition that you have, that feeling of being confident and being a mom and having
Intuition and Personal Growth Through Gardening
00:25:19
Speaker
that intuition and that connection with your child, like you can have that out in your garden space too. And I think people kind of can forget that, especially people that are producing a lot or that are just starting out. Like I have
00:25:34
Speaker
I call her my, like she's my experiment client. Um, she's a good friend of mine. I love that. I've been helping her since she started her seeds. And I think she's like starting to see like, especially her daughters are like getting involved and her husband's getting involved.
00:25:55
Speaker
I think she's really starting to see how it can really bring a family together and connect them. And then it connects you to your outdoor space too. It makes you want to go outside more. It makes you want to be barefoot and ground. It makes you want to decorate for at night. I can look out her window and there's
00:26:15
Speaker
like twinkle lights and stuff. Yeah, like they can't see that you can. I don't know if you can think off. Can you see? Oh, yes. Oh my god. And that's from your daughter's window. Like that is amazing. And I'm like, I put the other lights up, she'll be able to look out there and be like, okay, it's not just like super dark back there. The gardens right there. Yeah, that's so beautiful. I love that. That is so true. I think like
00:26:42
Speaker
getting your brain to shut up to listen to your intuition about yourself is like incredibly hard to listen to your own gut just about your personal self. So like I like the way that learning to garden gives you that practice of listening to your intuition on something that isn't necessarily yourself.
00:27:00
Speaker
and then once you start hearing it more and trusting yourself like out in the garden you start kind of trusting yourself like back in your life a little bit more i think that's like a super it's it's a tough benefit to describe to people but like hear me out if you can trust yourself to raise some plants like you're gonna start trusting yourself to like take care of yourself a little bit more do you resonate with that at all yeah yeah i do and
00:27:24
Speaker
I can tell like immediately, like when I haven't been taking good care of myself, or if I'm not spending enough time out there, I can, it's the difference in how I act, how I feel. It's, it's mind blowing how different I am. Like I need that. I need my garden. I need the food that comes from it.
00:27:50
Speaker
because even you hate to say it, but you can't really trust the grocery store food. Unfortunately. You don't know. It's hard. Yeah, definitely. That's why I'd love to live in a place like you do, where I can, for real garden year round, make sure we have a constant supply. I'm working on that here, but I mean. But the challenges are a lot different. January, February, it's rough to try to keep
00:28:19
Speaker
Um, like a row cover, like, uh, you know, like a frost cover on and through the snow, like once it snows, I know I'm going to either have to shovel around it or we're not going to get to it for a long time. Right. Oh my God. What do we plant turnips? Yeah. Turnips one year, um, a couple of years ago and my daughter was like, yeah, this is going to be so cool. So I just did one row and we put like the little hoops, like they were only like,
00:28:49
Speaker
weight, like not even waist high, like a low row. And we, I put frost fabric and then I put the plastic over it too. Once it started getting really cold. And then we were harvesting, we did a December harvest of turnips. So cool. Yeah. And I left them and I was freaking awesome.
00:29:11
Speaker
And it's the first time we've ever guarded that late. And then it snowed January, it snowed February that year.
00:29:21
Speaker
We finally, like, I don't know if you remember, like, if you lived in Rhode Island, we get, like, a false spring, like, mid-February. Yes. This is, I can't live with that, okay? It messes with my brain, dude. No! Can't do that to people. Mother Nature's crazy. She's a wild beast. She's like, watch this. Yes. I'm gonna mess with these people's lives right now. I'm gonna fuck with them.
00:29:50
Speaker
hell yeah watch they just go outside and t-shirts they don't even care look at them look it's 50 hours we opened up the tunnel and we harvested turnips in like february
Gardening in Different Climates
00:30:14
Speaker
And then I didn't close the tunnel because I was like, it's so nice. So you're like, it's beautiful out. And she's snowing on the turnips. They survived. I covered them with the snow and they actually survived a little longer, but. That's incredible. Oh my God. I've never thought about, is there anything else that you can grow in the winter there? I feel like I could like most root veggies, if you threw a cover over them and maybe even like
00:30:42
Speaker
really cold hardy lettuce and I know some kale would probably make it. I wonder if a Brussels sprout would make it.
00:30:54
Speaker
Maybe you have an experiment to do this winter. I know, I might have to do a little experiment. Oh my god, that would be really cool. I've been able to, so it would be fun. Yeah, that would be so cool. Oh my god, yeah. Winter gardening. Yeah, I would get really thrown off here. It was January and I was getting my bed started and I was like, I'm good this year. I'm ahead of the game. And then I'm seeing people posting and they already have vegetables growing. I'm like, wait, what the heck?
00:31:21
Speaker
I have not quite adjusted to Florida seasons yet. It's definitely a whole like, like my garden's basically empty right now. It's very confusing for my brain. Like wait, it's almost July. Okay. There's nothing. Okay. That's fine. We'll wait. Cause the powdery mildew and stuff down here is like, Oh my God.
00:31:43
Speaker
Humid is, there has to be a word past humid. I don't know what it is. Is it just wet? It is wet. It is legitimately, dude, it's just wet outside. I'm always like, oh, it rained. And then I'm like, oh no, it didn't. That's just like the air. Unfortunately.
00:31:59
Speaker
Okay, we're back again, because kids wake up guys, it's fine. It's literally fine. They wake up and they're like, yo, where are you? You were just saying about homeschooling, which I was like, do you involve the garden? Do you do you involve the garden homeschooling? I know she's only six. So like, how much? How do you get to use? Okay, see, that's so cool. I love that. She's been in the garden with me since like,
00:32:27
Speaker
I was pregnant with her. So awesome. She's like, this is just my wife. Even I have pictures of her like in the baby carrier, like on the front of me and she's like a week, two weeks old and wrote, I, cause I, I planted the seeds that year that she was born on my due date. Oh my God. That's so cute. Me and my sister, I made my, I made my sister come over. I was like, I need your help in the green house. I have something I need to do.
00:32:56
Speaker
She's like everything. I'm like everything. She's like, you're due today. I'm like, we're doing it. I want the better day to do it before I give birth and spend my dad for the first few weeks. That's so sick. I have pictures of her and she's like, she was so alert when I was born. And she's like, you can see her like looking all up close to them.
00:33:20
Speaker
So she's really, she's grown up out there and she was super interested in it. And I teach her about like everything you can eat and, and you think they're not listening. They are because they're totally listening because people will like, even now, like as like a six year old, there was like, and she is
00:33:42
Speaker
four and five she didn't really want to like do too much with the garden and didn't force her to do it because I want her to like still come around and like come back to it and she did this year but she even with not
00:33:57
Speaker
wanting to be out there so much she would take like my husband's grandfather back there and be like pop look at our garden and this is borage and it has vitamin c in it and you can eat it
00:34:12
Speaker
and pop look mom planted a whole row of arugula for you it's super spicy she said you're gonna love it and like oh my god don't eat those peppers they're super hot and she's like telling them like the names of everything and she's like these hookah melons that's not basil don't eat that it looks like it though and i'm like okay cool she's listening
00:34:36
Speaker
sick. That's awesome. I think it's so cool that this like coming generation that's like young kids now, I truly hope for them that they like gardening is back to that point where it's just like everyone just has a garden.
Gardening Experiments and Learning
00:34:50
Speaker
This is just like things that you know, like these are just like you're into like, this is part of your like growing up and stuff. And I like like you said you grew up with a garden.
00:34:58
Speaker
Yeah, like you grew up with a garden. We had a garden in our house growing up. So like, it was very normal to me. But I think for a lot of people, this is like genuinely their very first experience gardening. Yeah. And they're so lucky to even if you have like, like, I see a lot of people their first years like go all in which I love. Hell yeah, you dive off that deep end, get into it. But you do not have to.
00:35:21
Speaker
if you don't want to. No, but I think it's just like anything out there for you for your child like whoever is learning for the first time like oh my god just one plant like sparks like your whole changes everything. I was actually on my friend Katie's podcast the other day and she was like what is your um every first gardener should grow this. I said sunflowers because I just think that they're so rewarding and like pretty easy. Do you have a different one that you would suggest like any first gardener starts with?
00:35:51
Speaker
any first-time gardener for like ease and for like maybe not even ease it doesn't have to be easy but like for reward maybe like you're like you should try this yeah i feel like a good row of green beans oh you could harvest too oh my god yeah with kids yeah or potatoes oh potatoes too oh do you find potatoes to be easy or you i'm like scared to do potatoes down here
00:36:19
Speaker
And like, if you, like, we always do sell a little in a grow bag for my daughter because
00:36:26
Speaker
flipping the bag over and her seeing them that way, she would get so excited about it. Such a cool reveal, yeah. We did a huge row, not huge, but a big row for us in a flower bed that I converted to a strawberry bed and that didn't work, so I converted it to potatoes this year. Love it. She cannot get over the bushes.
00:36:52
Speaker
and all the little white flowers. And she's over there. She's like, I want to pick them. I'm like, don't pick them. I don't really know what will happen. And I don't think anything happens at all. But we have to take caution. Who knows? I'm like, yeah, don't pick them. The bees like them. And so that goes back to the homeschooling thing. It's always like learning. And just like, I don't know. I think potatoes are super rewarding. They store really well.
00:37:21
Speaker
They're really nutritious. Especially you're saying in a grow bag. Yeah. And like in a grow bag, like not a lot of space. You don't need a ton of space. And then like in a grow bag does not take up a lot of room. You need like a bag of soil and some, how do you start your potatoes? Is that a silly question? I don't know. I've never grown potatoes. I don't think it's a silly question. I, so normally I just, whatever eyes under the counter.
00:37:47
Speaker
I throw in the ground. Yeah, I just throw them in the ground. I have a better yield of potatoes when I throw them in ground. But this year we won the giveaway and I won like eight pounds of potato seed, which is just eyed potatoes. So cool.
00:38:14
Speaker
I can't kick it over how well they're doing. It's amazing. I've never grown potatoes from potato seed before. That's so awesome. But I think that's a great way to start, though, is it's like, do you have a potato under your counter? Yeah. Throw it in the ground. What's the worst thing that's going to happen? You grow one tiny potato and you get a good laugh out of it? That's also hysterical.
00:38:35
Speaker
It is. It is funny. Experimenting and failing in the gardening is actually so much fun sometimes. It's so good for you. You're like, wow, I messed that up so badly, but that was so much fun. It's really good for you.
00:38:50
Speaker
Yeah, if you're just learning to accept that you messed up, I think people get really down on themselves when they aren't doing well in a garden. But it's like, dude, you're just learning something. Or I don't know, it happens all the time. The starts that are sold at stores sometimes, I love starting. Just start some stores. I'm not a terribly huge seed person, honestly. Call it laziness. It's all good. I bet sometimes. It's all good.
00:39:15
Speaker
I just like the reward factor. I'm like, look, it's growing already. Look, plant. No, but it can be hard to keep a start alive too. Cause they're used to one place and then they're coming to another. And if you don't like acclimate it well, or if you're just kind of like, Oh, I'm going to just throw it in the ground and hope for the best. Sometimes you get the best and sometimes it's okay.
00:39:40
Speaker
Yeah and that's the part that yeah like being a beginner gardening gardener I think can feel really frustrating because you like want you like want the instagram garden right you're like I want to yield I want a big basket full of so much stuff it's like that takes you might like you might crush it your first year like who knows but you also like if you don't crush it your first year like do you crush anything the first time that you do it like that's what I was trying to remind myself when I'm like failing or I feel like I'm failing at something like I don't pick up
00:40:09
Speaker
like I don't pick up embroidery and be like I'm gonna make a masterpiece my like first time like I'm probably gonna make a really weird looking flower and it's like gonna be okay so like being okay with failing and not like growing a million things like uh it's almost more fun I kind of like messing up plans I'm like whoa
00:40:27
Speaker
Did that one. That's crazy. I'm like, I think it'll do well here and you like plant it in the garden and then you're like, so it doesn't do well there. That's very interesting. Make a little mental note or garden journal, whatever you do. Do you have a garden journal or is yours very mental at this point? Mine is very mental and it always has been. Um, I tried to keep a garden journal one time and like,
00:40:53
Speaker
it, I think I've made it to like one or two things germinating in the greenhouse, not even outside. You're like, I'm done. That is so funny. I used to do, um, Instagram as a journal a little bit now, just to see like, cause I've tried a few different things. Um, I, I didn't really try different things, like, um, growing wise or I don't know how to say it, but I didn't try.
00:41:23
Speaker
other things that I was like in my own little garden bubble. Yeah, my dad, my grandfather, my, my husband's grandfather had a huge garden. So like, I was just asking them or my neighbor. And then I came on Instagram, I was like, I'm gonna try that. I'm gonna try that because you never know until you try something could really, really work for you. And a lot of things did. But now I'm kind of, I use Instagram a little bit as a journal.
00:41:50
Speaker
and I do keep a lot of notes in my phone of like disease prevention because I've noticed over the past few years with I feel like the seasons are changing a lot that we've been getting a lot more diseases than we've had before so I've had to keep a little bit of notes of that when it happened like even like temperatures sometimes just because
00:42:19
Speaker
like I plant like 35 tomatoes in the garden and some people are like oh that's nothing and some people are like holy moly that's a lot. I'm a holy moly that's a lot. That's a holy moly. That's a big holy moly. Yeah but like when they all get septorially fungus you're like oh gotta do something. Yeah yeah. That happened oh my gosh that happened 2020. Mm-hmm. But um
00:42:49
Speaker
we saved them and it was, and I wrote everything down and the next summer, like my cousin had a problem and I was like, this is what I did. I found it on YouTube and it worked and she was like, all right, I'm trying it and it saved hers. And so I was like, I'm going to share this and like tag the guy in it because he deserves like
00:43:15
Speaker
recognition for it. Yeah. Thank you for saving my tomatoes. You rock. For real. Thank you so much. And I'm telling people about this and to go see your videos because they're so informative. I think it's called The Rusted Garden. Okay. I couldn't believe
Gardening as a Lifestyle
00:43:34
Speaker
it. Like, it slowed the septoria leaf down. And that's awesome. You know, the it was beautiful. And that's like
00:43:43
Speaker
That goes back to like what you were saying, like with like, not like killing the plants or like failing or something. Like I don't think of like fails as fails in the garden. I think of them as lessons. Yeah, that's such a good view. Yeah. And that's, I tell beginner gardeners that all the time, that's like one of my top tips too for them too is like, besides not comparing to other people, like don't think of
00:44:10
Speaker
like you killing that plant as a failure like make a mental note of what you did because that's a lesson and you're not going to do it next time and that's what makes you a great gardener. Yes and that's what that's a great place too that you tie into like learning those lessons in the garden and then learning them for yourself like everything is coming to you for a reason like it is just another lesson like all you have to do is like pay attention to it like you really just have to like
00:44:36
Speaker
if you're watching and you're observing you can at least be like aware of what's going on even if like yes the plant dies you don't yield high like whatever it is or like you're doing something in your life and you're like oh that's not working out like as long as you're stepping back and observing and being aware of it like that is the lesson like that's such a great point i find with
00:44:54
Speaker
with note taking in the garden, I find it really interesting that you also like, I can't land on a good way to take notes, which I think is hysterical, because I used to do like data analytics, like at a cultivation facility, like it was literally my job. And I was like very into it there. But then my own garden, I'm like, you want me to write stuff down? Like, I don't know why it's such a struggle. It's not your job.
00:45:18
Speaker
It's not something somebody's forcing you to do. This is something you want to do. And for me anyways, if I turn it into, I have to write everything down. I have to keep this detailed journal. Like some people are totally into that and it helps them stay motivated out there. That'll kill it for me. I know it will. Yeah. That's interesting. Too much thinking involved in it at that point. Even though you are thinking.
00:45:47
Speaker
I just want to store it all in my brain instead.
00:45:52
Speaker
That's just another like, it's fine. I can hang on to this information as well. Yeah. But it's just, it's just everyone's gardening style too. Cause I do. I know some people that keep like beautiful detailed journals and I'm like, damn, I wish I was like that still. But I think I just did it for too long as a job that I'm like, I can't, I also just can't do it in like a casual way. I have to do it like a hundred thousand percent and have like a detailed express Excel spreadsheet.
00:46:19
Speaker
I can't just be calm about it. I have to do 1000%. Yeah, that's, that's a good one. It's something you love too. So I like, even like with homeschooling our daughter, like, I find the thing she loves, she holds on to more. She remembers more of and I think that's why it doesn't take up so much space for us. Because we love it so much.
00:46:45
Speaker
That's really a great point. It's just part of our life. You know, it's like, we don't take detailed notes on our life all the time either, right? So if gardening becomes such a big part of your life, how it's become like mine or yours, you know, you just go with it. It's just already created like a little pocket in there, like how you have one for your kids or your dog or like cooking dinner, like whatever it is.
00:47:13
Speaker
you know, all your lists that are up here that you do on a daily, like the garden is just part of it now.
Mental Health and Gardening
00:47:19
Speaker
Definitely. I do love how like, it does become a part of your like, it's just such a, like you said about how it like opens up your outdoor space. Like I never realized how much time I wasn't spending outside until I had like a yard and garden of my own. And I was like, wait, was I just never outside before? Like, what was I doing? And like, now I'm like,
00:47:42
Speaker
We get ready in the morning, like outside. Okay. We're going to come inside to eat. Okay. Back outside. Like, and it's such a blessing to just be able to like, Oh, like you said, put your feet in the grass. Touch some, touch some plants, man. Oh my God. It really is just life changing it. Like the serotonin flowing. Yes. Oh my God. Like the mental health benefits are just like, I can't even deal with them sometimes. I'm like, Oh, I'm so much happier of a human being, being in like the sun most of the year.
00:48:12
Speaker
Crazy. Isn't it incredible? Who would have thought? That's how I feel about the greenhouse. When I'm able to get out there, my whole mindset just completely changes. And giving yourself the opportunity. I think you have to allow yourself to invest in gardening as well. I think it can feel like you're picking up maybe another hobby and you're like, oh, I have to spend money on these things. And of course, budgeting is important. Spending your money wisely is obviously important.
00:48:40
Speaker
but allowing yourself to spend money in your garden thoughtfully and make it a place that can be a huge benefit to you and your family like I can't stress enough like how life-changing it can be for you like something like investing that is an investment into your family and your health like you were saying with like the like eating things that you grew and you know what's going on with them and
00:49:01
Speaker
It's just an investment for your family and they're not like you're saying homeschool. You're hitting on all the things like your knowledge you're investing in your health you're investing in like your daily mindset you're investing in like
00:49:13
Speaker
If you're struggling with depression, anxiety, postpartum stuff, putting yourself into gardening can just change your whole life, your whole mindset. I know it did for me. It did for me too. A terrible postpartum anxiety after my daughter. People would come over and I would hide in my house upstairs and be like, I'm not. They can hold the baby for 10 minutes.
00:49:42
Speaker
And then I want her back because it'll be time to eat. And I was like, it was terrible. And it changed me in the beginning and it was almost debilitating for me. And as soon as I was able to move around after the C-section again and get back outside and in the greenhouse and have her with me still and
00:50:11
Speaker
Oh, I don't know. It just, it changes your, it just changes you. Like you don't have to think too much about it. Like she was with me, so I wasn't having to worry about like other people like touching her that I didn't want her to be touched by. And people asking me questions about everything.
00:50:33
Speaker
it's just too much sometimes yeah it is no dude it really is motherhood is it is a very it's a large load to take on and i don't know that it's like talked it like everybody i don't want to be like everyone knows that motherhood is a lot but like
00:50:48
Speaker
it's not a lot in the ways that you think like, yes, like your house is messy. And there's a lot of stuff to do. It's like that mental load that gets put on you when you're a mom, like all of a sudden, every moment of the day is like something to worry about. And it's like, it's really stressful. It's really heavy. And like, if you don't have an outlet to like
00:51:07
Speaker
direct yourself towards or to be like I am caring for like this thing outside of myself kind of like it gets it's it's heavy and I don't know I don't know you have to direct your energy into something and to be able to plant things and focus on something else and to be like I'm taking care of
00:51:28
Speaker
I'm going outside. I'm doing X, Y and Z. So it's like, now you've accomplished something. You can like check things off your list. You've like touched green things. So your brain is just like, and yeah, it's just, I don't know. It really, it really did change my life. I know like the first time I stepped back, like I started working at a flower farm was really my like pivotal moment.
00:51:50
Speaker
that i got out there and i started doing it and i was like oh this is like i have to spend my life doing this like i finally had that moment i was like this is what i have to do with my life in some capacity is like growing plants and that spark finally coming back into my life like i was like things were like tough like i was in a really tough spot and then finally finding that
00:52:10
Speaker
changed my whole life. Like, oh my God, thank God. I think shouts out indeed for just sending random jobs to people. Like this was not in the category I was looking for, but like, yeah, it just lit up my life so much. But that's like sometimes the best thing, like the best way, like the unexpected happens and it's led you to something you didn't think could, like it wasn't even on your radar that it was going to help you. And like when I started gardening,
00:52:40
Speaker
I had been going through hell with a million different things. Like 24 years old, it's hard. Those are the days. Yeah, I miss it. Absolutely. It's hard. And you're transitioning out of college and into the real world. And if you went that route and
00:53:04
Speaker
Like, I mean, I went to school for marine biology. I was going to say, like, I don't know if you're like me, but like I went to college and like, I don't do that. I can tell you that much. And like a lot of people, and I didn't realize how many people like, aren't doing the thing they went to college for. But when you find that out and like 24 years old, like you don't know.
00:53:26
Speaker
Like you don't know shit. Literally nothing. Like you don't know anything. And when you find out that other people like aren't doing anything close to what they went to school for, it's like, Oh, okay. Like that even makes you feel better. But then when you find this thing, like you said that you have an outlet for, and for me, it was gardening too. Like it does, it changes like your entire perspective and you become confident out there.
00:53:56
Speaker
and you can bring that into your life. And you can bring that into like, if you're going to become a mom or like, even if you're not going to become a mom, like it'll give you that confidence to like, cause you know what you're going to do out in the garden, you know? And sometimes you don't know what you're going to do or say, like if somebody is like talking to you or they're like, you know, people can get down on you and like,
00:54:25
Speaker
It doesn't seem like you're that young when you are, but now looking back, it's like, all right. I started gardening and everything kind of changed. I dropped people from my life. I just made a lot of big changes.
Community Building and Authenticity Online
00:54:43
Speaker
I wanted to be out there. I didn't want to be going out anymore.
00:54:47
Speaker
And like, instead of going out, I was like in my greenhouse till two o'clock in the morning and it changes your mind. It changes your body. It's just, it's all around good for you. I think there's some scientific studies done too about how actually gardening and getting your hands in the dirt is really, really good for you. Yes, definitely. It really, um,
00:55:12
Speaker
I think it connects you back to like, more like natural states of yourself as well. It's like, we're so I find myself like, I don't know, you're you have a fantastic Instagram following. You are. Love it. Yes, it's amazing. Thank you.
00:55:30
Speaker
That is fantastic. But that's so it's so it's very rewarding. Like I enjoy being on Instagram. It is a lot of fun to share your hard work and to have people appreciate it. It's great. But you can find yourself really wrapped up and like I know I do it like you're on the internet all the time. You're like inside your house, whatever. And then getting back outside and connecting like genuinely to like nature and the earth and like
00:55:54
Speaker
I don't know, dude, the little lizards in my yard are like probably my favorite thing in the entire world. Like I love each and every one of you. There's different ones that live on different places and I love them all fully. Yeah. Just connecting truly back to a natural state of like humans used to just like, you know, roam around and like forage and like hunt and stuff. Like things used to be really different.
00:56:16
Speaker
And like, I know we can't get back to exactly that nowadays, but like to bring yourself back there a little bit and to allow your body to be in that state of like calm is I love that so much. I love that too. I really do.
00:56:32
Speaker
That is fantastic. Let me see. I have some silly rapid fire questions. Do you want to do some of these? Yeah, sure. Maybe not silly, but let's see. Okay, what is your favorite plant to grow? Tomatoes. Oh, okay. Tomatoes. Tell me how you feel about tomato hornworms.
00:56:58
Speaker
No. You go, no. I'm not talking about it. They're like so cool to look at, but like if I find one, it scares me. Like I get, I'm like, and then I'm like, oh, okay. And then you get heebie jeebies. Yeah. They're so cute. If you look at them long enough, you're like, these are adorable creatures, but immediately you're like, what in the heck? They're little feet on the cutest thing. They move.
00:57:23
Speaker
But also you are the worst. Can you relax? But you don't have to eat the whole tomato plant in one day. Oh my god, ridiculous. What is your least favorite thing you have ever grown? I know it's supposed to be rapid fire. I don't know. It's okay. You can think about it. What's something you're growing this year that you're like, you're annoying. Peppers. Oh,
00:57:50
Speaker
hot take on the peppers yeah my peppers are super annoying this year that's so funny um fill in the blank when i'm gardening i feel oh so joyous incredibly joyous oh my god that is a great word i love that so much okay yes
00:58:18
Speaker
You gave your new gardener plant recommendation. Oh, name your plant nemesis. Is it a disease, an insect maybe? Who's always coming at you? Oh, what are they called? Earwigs. Oh, what do you do about them?
00:58:43
Speaker
Um, I try to let them take their natural course, but last year I just couldn't. They destroyed everything. I was put in, um, like, uh, paper towel rolls with, um, newspaper in the middle and just like throwing those in the yard waste after I'd find a whole bunch of them. But I was also picking them up with like a rake and a shovel because I do not want earwigs to touch my body at all. Ew.
00:59:14
Speaker
That was so funny. Yeah, some things are just like, I'm not into it. Yeah. So like anything that resembles a stink bug, I am just not into it. Like, please leave me alone. There's like different weird ones down here too. Like different, they're like cousins live down here. I'm not into them either. Dude, I can't. There are even, I swear they're weird looking. Of course, cause it's Florida and everything has to be freaking giant. I don't stop growing.
00:59:42
Speaker
There's no cold, so nothing dies. They just live all year. Ridiculous. Ooh. Describe your garden aesthetic in one word. My garden aesthetic in one word. Meat. Meat rose.
01:00:07
Speaker
Yes, I love that. Oh, she's neat. I love that. Okay, straight up here is my vodka meat. Yes, girl. Oh, I said I kind of asked but how is sharing this doesn't have to be rapid fire. But how does sharing on Instagram like affect how you garden like does it change things for you? Do you feel like you hesitate on anything or feel like I just go for it?
01:00:34
Speaker
I feel like I definitely just go for it. Um, when I first started doing it, I was like, Oh, everything has to be perfect. I'm going to rerecord this 8,000 times. So because I messed up or like I, I like flubbed my words and now I'm kind of like, Oh, I'm just going to record myself doing something like in time lapse and either do a voiceover or.
01:01:01
Speaker
write down what I'm doing, but I don't think it's changed the way that I garden at all. But I think now I'm more comfortable sharing who I am than I was before. I don't know.
01:01:24
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think it's really changed the way that I actually garden. I like, I show, I try to show everybody real time what I'm doing. So it's like, I think it can be hard. It can be overwhelming sometimes because so many things happen so quickly out there, but I try to be like as authentic to myself and to my family and to my garden space as I can be.
01:01:52
Speaker
I love that. That's fantastic. Oh, here's so this is my last question, but it's kind of more of like a maybe like a an exercise for you. But so I'm asking you to manifest with me a little bit in five years.
Future Dreams and Episode Wrap-up
01:02:07
Speaker
Where do you hope to be in your garden journey? What does that like look like for you? To me, that looks like hopefully living in a warmer climate.
01:02:20
Speaker
where I can garden more year round. Um, I'd like to have like kind of a compound, like a family compound almost. And I do, I want some animals on it. Definitely chickens for sure. A huge compost pile, like huge that I don't have to like
01:02:43
Speaker
outsource anything like I don't want to outsource chicken manure. I don't want to have to outsource any kind of like soil or anything like that. Yeah, I think and just kind of I see myself relearning in a new environment. That was a big thing for me moving to Florida everything that I did know.
01:03:10
Speaker
It, there's some practices that come over, but like, yeah, you're just in a whole, you know, you go to the nursery and you're like expecting to find certain things and it's just not there. Yeah. Very different plants. Kind of like the beauty of seed starting too. Yeah, that's true. That's very true. My, the people that used to live behind us, um, lived there forever and they moved while I was pregnant with my daughter and
01:03:36
Speaker
He moved down to Florida and he was like, I don't even grow tomatoes down here. He's like, because there's too many bugs. He's like, they just eat them up. They like the tomatoes. Yeah. He's like, I don't feel like, um, he's like, I don't feel like covering them and people put like these baggies over them. And, and I'm like, oh, see, I'd be that crazy lady out there doing that for sure.
01:04:01
Speaker
i love it it is wild they just like the the bugs down here like something else i'm really grateful i do a lot of native gardening and i do a lot more like landscaping style like my gardening is more much more landscaping geared um and the bugs kind of just like hang out more on the native stuff i've found than on my vegetables which i just think is so interesting i have no science behind that that's just some sarah tech
01:04:27
Speaker
But I found that they'd actually rather eat what is supposed to be grown here than, like, other stuff. So that's been a really big blessing for me. That's so cool. Yeah. Is there any, like, resources or anything that you use specifically for, like, your own knowledge? Like, is there anything that you're, like, a book maybe that people use, like, think have to have? Or, like, are you just, like, a Google maniac?
01:04:55
Speaker
I do. How many articles can I read today? I do a lot of Googling. It's just so convenient to have that in your hand literally. And I think that I think the internet's an awesome place for knowledge for sure. I have quite a few different books. I really like this book. It's called on a quarter like farming on a quarter acre.
01:05:25
Speaker
And we have just under that. And it's just unbelievable to see what we could do here if I wanted to turn the whole yard into gardens or a space for an animal. But with the kids, that's just not feasible. And it's not feasible for me because I wouldn't have time to do that at this point in my life. But then that herb book.
01:05:54
Speaker
Oh my god, what's the name of it? It's a very popular herb book. Okay, we'll find the name. I can put it in the description later. I can see it's dark green with like this pretty around it. The chick that wrote it was a contestant on that show alone.
01:06:13
Speaker
Oh my God. All right. This was absolutely amazing. Thank you so, so much for joining me. Oh my gosh. I had so much fun. We'll have to do this again for sure. Yes, definitely. Oh, that was so wonderful. All right. Thank you guys so much for joining me for another episode. I will see you guys probably next week, but we'll see. Like I said, mom life. So timeline. All right. Have a great night. Thanks guys. Bye.