🌞 big personal news 🌞
plus weekly garden tasks for zone 7 and some good garden reads!
big news! i decided to leave advertising.
yep, i quit my job.
i find myself not wanting to talk much about the last ten years of high pressure, leadership positions — the good or the bad. i thought a lot of words would come to me about how priorities shift, the signs of burnout, the way your brain changes in your mid 30s, finding a new love, or the state of the world. 🌎
when i was consistently writing publicly about 12 years ago, i was known for ruthless vulnerability!!! i kind of expected that to show up again. i used to receive emails from people saying, ‘how are you so brave to say this out loud? i would never admit this.’ taking a sandpaper to your experiences and leaving them raw for all to see can play a special role in exorcising demons and sourcing new tools for healing. i consider it a gift from the gods in my 20s, and also evidence of what i was seeking: to reclaim what was real to me. who i was, what my experiences were, and what i thought about them. to do so defiantly. to prove i could do it not in the dark.
now, i simply want to change what i do. maybe this is what is simpler in your 30s.
this year i want to work with my hands. 🤲🏼 i want to learn something that has been intrinsic to humanity until about 80 years ago. (did you know that in the 1940s, 40% of produce in america was grown in personal backyards?) to grow food, to teach others how to grow food, and to grow it for those who america has consistently left behind.
1 in 7 people in north carolina are facing hunger. there are twenty one food deserts in my small city of winston-salem, nc. 1 in 4 children in my city live in poverty (under $25k for 4-person household) - and this was before the pandemic. my city is ranked 7th on a national list of metropolitan areas with the highest rate of food hardship. we have been ranked worst metro area in the country for families with children that struggle to put food on the table. more than a third of parents responded “yes” to the question, “have you not had enough money to buy food for your children in the past year?”
none of these statistics will get better in the near future. with inflation, supply chain challenges, lack of childcare and healthcare solutions, rapidly degrading topsoil, and climate instability — food will only get more challenging for all of us.
so, i want to grow it. for me and others. 👩🏻🌾
our bodies are magnificent and seeds more magnificent still. the microbiome in the soil fascinates me. the presence of fungi and how it is more similar to humans than plants is glorious. the splashes of red on the tiny green leaves of radicchio seedlings are art. the humidity of a greenhouse is healing. the rich smell of warm dirt is intoxicating. the muscles that come with digging, hauling, building…don’t we all want more strength?
this newsletter will continue to come weekly as i discover what new things i will do with my time. i will share the lessons i learn while growing, and hopefully i will find a new way to make a (very small) living in the search for food staying close to our homes, and available to all. so, thank you for reading. 🙏🏻 🥰
if you want to help!! ➡️ i have enabled a $5/month paid subscription for this newsletter. there will not be paid vs free content because i want it to remain accessible to absolutely everyone. but, if you would like to be part of the floriCULT (hehe) and contribute to my efforts, it would be magical to have your support.
what i worked on this week // suggested tasks for zone 7b:
installed two in-ground rows in the backyard. they are about 3 feet by 12 feet. somewhere in my soul i wish i were a flower farmer so these will likely be dedicated to cut flowers. i decided against raised beds as the soil quality is pretty fair, and raised beds require much more water than in-ground. 🌻
finally built a compost bin out of free pallets. this took all of 15 minutes. shoutout to max and will for helping me. 🔨
started my tomato seedlings. we are ~6 weeks out from the last frost!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🍅
picked up hay bales. you can use hay or straw for mulching, but hay has more protein that breaks down to provide more nutrients and improve your soil. straw is pretty nutrient deficit, as it’s just the shell of the grass. however, hay still contains the seeds so you’ll need to pick out the little grasses as they sprout in your bed. pros and cons.
took a mushroom class from @gnomesteadhollow. i actually can’t believe how low maintenance mushrooms are, so i’ll be trying my hand at oysters, lions mane and shiitake. we are mostly vegetarian and have been eating a lot of lions mane burgers lately - they are SO GOOD. you can buy spawn or plugs through field & forest. 🍄
what i’m reading / listening to:
The Growing Season: How I Built a New Life - and Saved an American Farm by Sarah Frey
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake
The Manual of Seed Saving: Harvesting, Storing, and Sowing Techniques by Andrea Heistinger
Sway podcast and Pivot podcast, both by Kara Swisher, my new idol
what’s coming up:
teach an in-person gardening 101 class. march 12 in winston. RSVP here.
love-in-a-mist, sorrel, and bachelor buttons will go straight into the new beds. these can be planted before the last frost and do best when direct sown.
root vegetables going in the ground. turnips, beets, carrots, radishes. all of these can be direct sown 4-8 weeks prior to the last frost.
buy netting for staking my raised flowers. thanks to @windsongflowers for the Hortonova reco and honesty about how non-plastic netting is just not great. :(
transplanting all greens into the raised beds. bok choy, chinese cabbage, kale and several lettuces are ready to transition to the great outdoors! i will spend 3-4 days hardening them off first. i set them outside during the day (out out direct sunlight) and move them back in at night. this is to help them get adjusted and not shock them too much.
before i go, some delightful facts:
90% of plants rely on mycorrhizal fungi 🍄
some fungi can digest nuclear radiation (mycoremediation) and have been deployed at chernobyl to clean it up
there are between 2.2-3.8 million species of fungi (6-10x the number of plant species) and we have only discovered 6% of them
you carry more microbes than you do your ‘own’ cells. there are more bacteria in your tummy than stars in the sky ⭐️
LUV YA MEAN IT, GO FIND SOME DIRT 🙌🏼
“The problem was that we did not know whom we meant when we said ‘we.’“ - Adrienne Rich
What a lovely newsletter! Good luck with everything. I have my first polycarbonate polytunnel being installed very soon, so I'm super excited. Grow well, in all way.