Garden Visit: Monique

Heather here.

 

It’s that time of year to do garden visits. This helps us assess more than any other way who is “getting it” and who isn’t, what topics we need to spend more time on, and what the main disease/insect issues are, if any.

It’s also a chance for our gardeners to ask us anything they want and get one-on-one garden consultations, Q&A, and also to show off what they’ve done. People are always proud of their gardens and want to show us around and see what we think, and share their successes and failures.

My first stop was first-time gardener Monique. She has 12 children, and also struggles with some scary health issues that she has to work hard continuously to live with. She and her whole family modified their diets a lot when she got sick, drinkng/eating a lot of probiotics–making their own kefir, kombucha, and more.

One of Monique’s goals was to lower her family’s food costs, not by purchasing cheaper, unhealthy food, but growing some produce to offset the HUGE amount they need to buy. A family dinner could wipe out a lettuce bed in no time flat, while a carton of eggs won’t even cover breakfast for everyone!

So Monique was stoked when she heard of our program and came in to the office right away for a one-on-one interview, with a big list of things she’d always wanted to grow.

She’s always emailing me or calling me with questions, and I love that she cares so much about this.

Her garden makes me smile because it is a good example of how you can fit in gardens anywhere, and work them into your life style

 

–see ya!