Plenty

My mind can't help but turn towards the garden now. I want to plan it out, clean it up, and turn it into a mini farm full of abundant food and flowers. I want to put my new compost bins in the back and spray the trees with dormant oil. I want to prune the roses and take out all the bushes I don't like. The truth is, I may have no time for any of this this year. It is, unfortunately, more important that I do all the things for the store that need doing than to work in the garden. This goes against the grain with me. I don't think anything should be more important than growing herbs, flowers, and food. The most fundamental activity any of us can engage in. However, if we don't make the store as perfect as we can, then we will eventually lose our house.

Which is where my garden is.

What will happen is that I will squeeze in time for planting, though it won't be as pretty as I had hoped to make it. I will plant my herbs, my tomatoes, and my eggplants. I will steal minutes (or hours) to put at least something in the ground this spring that we will be able to harvest this summer. I know that if I don't do it I'll end up feeling a little soul sick. I understand how melodramatic that sounds. I don't give a rat's ass if anyone out there thinks I sound like some kind of mushy-hippie-Beltane dancing-earth mother. (For the record, I would not be caught dead dancing naked at all, ever, let alone to the light of the moon or a witchy bonfire.)

I can appreciate a beautifully landscaped garden. I have been known to swoon over a gorgeous arrangement of plants with all those wonderful rich trappings like "water features" or teak furniture placed artfully amongst the rare perennial maze. I love a garden with nary a weed or unsightly stack of rotted wood. But what I love even more, is a garden that dedicates at least twenty five percent of its space to the cultivation of things that can be eaten by human beings. When I see a garden in which there is a pharmacopoeia of herbs, fruits planted in every corner, and vegetables spilling out in complete disarray, I never see the weeds. I don't see the broken toys scattered all over the place. I don't notice that there's no symmetry or plan. What I see is a garden that is feeding people. A garden that is healing people. A garden more beautiful than any manicured, planned, or tidily maintained space.

My yard will be a sea of weeds this year. Much like last year. I will barely have time to plant it and keep it watered. Forget the weeds. My yard will look like no one cares what the neighbors think or have to look at. There will be days when I will feel kind of bad. When I will wish I had the time to show the neighbors what a paradise I can create. If I didn't have to work outside the house I could make that yard of mine into the kind of eden no one ever wants to leave once they're in the center of its spilling spread of plenty.

Most days I really won't have the time to be bothered over what the neighbors think. If they can't bear to see my yard over run with long grasses and unsightly clusters of weeds, they can come over and mow my dying lawn and weed the weeds whenever they want.

The lawn needs to be all pulled up. We hate lawn. Such a waste of space. I can't tell you how many times I have heard people tell me I "have" to have some lawn for my kid to play on. Isn't that what parks are for? My kid is actually slightly allergic to lawn and has always much preferred to dig huge holes in the dirt to run his trucks through. There are few things I hate more than when people tell me what my obligations are in life. Such as: learning to drive, having more than one kid, keeping my yard neat for the sake of property values, having a lawn for my kid, reading the newspaper. There is a list longer than Santa's of things I am supposed to do to be...what? To be a good person?

I have my own list of things all people should do:

• Eat mostly home made food, its healthier, tastes better (if you bother to learn to cook), and is cheaper than eating out. Unless you are eating out at fast food joints, which might be cheaper but is not only disgusting, but will speed you towards your (and your children's) end much faster than eating good quality food at home will.

• Grow at least two culinary herbs in your garden, on your balcony, or in your window. There's no excuse not to. None. Everyone can keep herbs alive if they pay attention them. If everyone grew at least two herbs in their garden to cook with fresh, the world would be a much better place. I wish everyone I knew would do this. I wish I had the words to inspire them to do it.

• Grow food where your lawns are. Yeah, I know, every one's got a million reasons why they don't have time to do it, why they need the lawn, have to have the lawn, how vegetables don't look good in their front yards, etc etc. It's monumentally more important to eat the freshest food possible than to look impressive to other people. I will plant things this spring in spite of having an unbelievable amount of stuff to do already. I might not plant as much as I'd like. It might not look as good. The weeds will flourish. But I will grow some of my own food. I believe that everyone else should do the same.

Oh, I'm sorry, is that too bossy of me? Look, I won't get all huffy when you ignore my list if you don't get all huffy when I ignore yours. Deal?

So who else out there is starting to think about their garden?

*Post Script: Ha! I just got a copy of "The Naked Chef" and you know what Jaime Oliver wants everyone to do? GROW THEIR OWN FRESH HERBS NO MATTER WHERE THEY LIVE.