My garden is a living bridge to my past, nourishing both my body and soul.  My childhood contains many memories of gardens from various family members, including my grandfather’s prized hot peppers. He took great pleasure in having you sample his hot pickled peppers (if you could stand the heat)!  A stroll through the garden often unearths old memories or sparks new ideas.  The experience varies, but I usually walk out of the garden with a new thought or feeling.  The garden, after all, supplies much more than food.   

Growing up, our family’s garden was cultivated on the same plot of land. My mother would wait for my father’s enthusiasm to strike before he would plow the earth, and only then would the planting begin.  Both of my parent’s families had gardens growing up, most likely due to necessity.  My father also spent many days helping on family farms.  I am thankful they felt gardening was important enough to continue in their generation.  One of my favorite memories would be my mother making spaghetti sauce on the stove.  Often I would take a small bowl or cup to “sample” the progress.  

I am grateful for those garden memories because they were an education that school did not supply in any way.  As an adult, I realize freshly grown food is important to physical health.  I hope that my children are learning more than I did as a child, and they can apply those lessons to their future gardens.  Without my gardening heritage, I may have been less motivated to start my garden, or the learning curve would have been much steeper.

America, in many ways, has a broken food system.  Our reliance on others to grow our food, coupled with our dependence on highly processed and packaged options, is a stark contrast to the food systems of my parents’ childhood.  One solution to that problem would be to educate citizens and allow them to take responsibility for growing some of their food.  The benefits of having a grocery store in your yard are innumerable.  I am thankful that our state has programs that support home gardeners, including the Guyan Conservation District’s Urban Agriculture and the Grow Appalachia program provided by the Local Exchange and WVU FNP. 

Not everyone has a gardening past or present, but now is the perfect time to start making some garden memories.   You will enrich your life, both physically and mentally.  Few other things in life have such flexibility and generosity.  Maybe you will make your own horseradish like my grandfather, grow a salad fresher than any grocery store, or cut into your own onions (the easiest vegetable to grow) at dinner time.  I hope you are encouraged to leave a garden legacy, like my family did, and realize the impact of a garden grows beyond the present.    

By: Sarah Haddox