What I’ve been up to…
This summer has flown by! In my last post, I shared that I was hoping to move into a new space where I could garden and steward some land—even if it was just a small yard. Well, my wish became the universe’s command, and I landed an incredible rental house with a huge yard, perfect for gardening and stewardship. This is partly why I’ve been so quiet on here.
The Adventures of Gardening
As a sustainable food systems professional and apartment garden enthusiast, I thought I knew what to expect when it came to gardening outdoors and caring for a yard…famous last words!
After moving in at the beginning of June, I quickly set up a raised bed made with bricks and wood planks from my local hardware store (with the help of a knowledgable friend). This was a top priority since I was already about a month behind the ideal planting window.
After multiple bags of compost and soil were laid, starters were planted in perfect rows, and a strategically placed sprinkling system was installed, all that was needed was time, sunshine, and water for this burgeoning garden to thrive. I was so excited for all the food I’d be able to harvest in the coming weeks and months—the true embodiment of sustainable nutrition!
The next morning, I woke up eager to see how my plant babies were doing—only to be shocked by the sight of desecrated stems where my once-thriving starter plants had been. What I initially thought were slugs feasting on my brand-new garden—specifically the herb and melon plants—turned out to be earwigs. Discouraged, I headed out to buy new starters. With fresh plants in the ground and hope that the previous night had been a fluke, I woke the next morning to find the same carnage had taken place—this time to an even worse extent than what’s shown in this video.
Over the next two weeks, I probably bought more starters than I had originally planted and quickly adopted a daily practice of applying diatomaceous earth. Even with the addition of organic-approved pest prevention, a new hoop house, beer traps, and new starter varieties, plenty of plants never made it to production. I remembered something a friend told me when we first started the garden: the difference between new and seasoned gardeners is that the experienced don’t fret over lost plants—it’s just part of the deal.
And after a summer of gardening, I completely understand that notion. I’ve learned so much about sun, shade, pests, plant varieties, and moisture. I’d be lying if I said this year’s garden was a super-producer, but with this experience, I’m 100% more knowledgable than when I first started. I look forward to putting that wisdom into practice next year with more beds and better strategy!
Yard Management
The other part of this stewarding adventure has been yard management. Though this house has been loved and well taken care of, the backyard was objectively a mess. Overgrown with weeds, cheat grass (yikes), and foxtails (every pet parent’s worst nightmare), I knew I had my work cut out for me.
The landlord left a weed wacker with the house for yard management. No problem, I thought, that seems easy enough.
Well, as a poodle owner, I quickly realized that years of weed wacking—without raking afterward—had left a thick layer of dried foxtails all over the yard, ready to burrow their way into Gypsy’s hair and skin. I took to hours of raking, mowing, wacking, and weeding.
While the first few sessions of this yard work were tiring (though oh so satisfying), the effort actually paid off—the foxtails are all but gone (and dead, I might add!). In the process, I also discovered how dangerous weed wacking can be (“You’ll shoot your eye out!” from A Christmas Story comes to mind).
Native sunflowers quickly popped up in the back of the yard and while it’s certainly not lush grass, it’ll do for this year. My hope is to add more native plants to attract pollinators next year.
But outside of the actual plant management back here, there was quite a bit of trash throughout the yard. Again, the previous tenants were awesome and really cared for this place, but with how overgrown the yard was—and a septic project tearing up the yard a few years back—there were plenty of places for rubbish to hide without being easily noticed.
Over the summer I’ve tackled the trash as I’ve had the capacity—it doesn’t matter how the waste got there, it’s always a bit gross picking it up. After a productive clearing session where I thought I’d gotten all of it, the next rain would come and Mother Earth would purge even more of what doesn’t belong. Gardening tarp, mutilated dog toys (stuffing especially), socks, plastic wrappers, straws, tiny bits of broken glass and plastic, old brick…you name it, I likely have found it back there.
Rubbish Reflections
As I’ve progressively picked up more and more trash from the yard over the summer, I’ve had plenty of time to think about garbage. As a sustainability expert, I’ve thought about waste management, rubbish, and plastic pollution far more than your average person.
Yet, as I became intimately connected with this land, picking up even the smallest pieces of trash, I was blown away by the persistent nature of the things we use in our everyday life. What flies out of our hands on the way to the trash can, the new stuffy we offer our pet, the sock we can’t find, the landscaping tarp we think is helping our yard…it doesn’t just ‘go away’ (at least not in the span of our lifetime and many generations to come). Instead, it breaks down into smaller pieces and gets lodged into the earth or dumped into waterways.
The scale of this endeavor has also been staggering. If I’ve found this much garbage in a small backyard plot, the idea of cleaning up a park, highways, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, or communities with less infrastructure than the U.S. feels like an astronomical undertaking.
Sure, it’s easier to just leave the trash, letting that become someone else’s problem. But what we may not realize is that it IS our problem. With plastic and petroleum-based trash sitting on and in the earth, toxic and persistent chemicals—including so-called “forever chemicals”—leach into the soil and waterways, where they can make their way into our food, drinking water, and local ecosystems. The presence of these chemicals in our food, water, and natural habitats harms not only human health, but also the health of plants and animals. It undermines our ability to properly nourish ourselves and to support thriving biological diversity in the future.
So let this be a little inspiration for you the next time you’re managing your trash, recycling, and compost—or see some garbage on the side of the road. That trash isn’t going to magically disappear—the only way it’s going to be properly disposed of is if a human hand actually picks it up.
I’m so grateful to be able to steward a small piece of Mother Earth—even if it’s on land I don’t own. While it may seem futile to care for even the tiniest patch, it’s these small pieces of land that collectively make up our planet. Each one matters.
I look forward to continuing to share more of this journey with you all here!
