What's so incredible? Why is she so awesome? How does she do it?

I wrote last year about the wonders of my herb garden and the glory of Virginia’s summer produce. I find myself in the heat of another fertile summer where my farmers market is once again bursting at the seams and the lady that sells goats cheese knows me by name. What a glorious position I’ve come to be in.

Still, I wanted more. I’ve come to appreciate ingredients as much as I appreciate the dishes I make, and this year finds me considerably more informed on the subjects of agro-industry than the last. I’ve joined a small circle of gardeners, and on my last trip to London, I found my fellow tourist patrons were not summertime couples or vacationers from Europe, but elderly British garden ladies out to gaze at the lilac. To be honest, I liked it. But more on London later.

Back to Virginia, where the sunshine and rain a’plenty had me believing that this was the year I should try my hand at gardening. So I did. I started a vegetable garden in my mother’s back yard. I had help of course, but I cleared the beds and aerated the soil and pulled the weeds with my own two hands. I planted the seeds and watered the seedlings and soon I will be picking the fruit of my labours. It’s a downright magical experience to see something you planted as a tiny seed pop up and become as tall as you. My sense of wonder regarding the food we eat has been redoubled.

I fear I’ve become a hippie. Maybe it’s the pull of the sustainability-minded sensibility I’ve adopted, but the garden is just the start. I find myself reading labels more critically than ever before, switching to the fabled 18-in-1 castille soap, eschewing paper products and kitchen disposables, traveling by bicycle when it isn’t raining out, and frequenting farmers markets and organic grocer’s exclusively. I’ve learned a lot in this transition, where I’ve discovered that growing up my equally hippie mother had a few good points or two. I’ve realised that what I do really matters. I’ve completely changed how I live my day-to-day life. All because of a single little squarefoot garden.

I’ve got a few pepper plants, a bunch of tomatoe plants, and an assortment of other root vegetables here and there. What’s really come up into the sunlight for me though has not been my okra or my squash, but the deep network of fellow gardeners I had no idea ran so far underground. This garden won’t bear enough food to feed me for a week let alone a summer, but the passion I’ve picked up along the way will sustain me for years to come. Even the one dinner of beetroot I eat will be a reminder of how precious the food I eat really is. It started with a garden today, and maybe a compost heap tomorrow, and hopefully a better future in the days that follow.