Summer 2018!!!

   At the beginning of the year like rest of the “New Year Resolution” Folks I promised myself I will have a new hobby learnt this year. I aspired to run Half Marathon. But after few months that went behind and a new goal popped up. VEGETABLE GARDENING!

   This is the first year we tried community gardening. Its also the first year of growing vegetables (I don’t think tiny backyard vegetables we grew in the last few years counts). Though I am kind of not happy with missing marathon, I am happy to be part of Summer garden. It was fun getting hands dirty, knowing where the food is coming from (definitely not from supermarket like how my 3 year old interpreted till now) and developing this new hobby. Out of no where one day during April, I got this adrenaline rush of joining community garden club. Within few days I am standing at the city hall filling the application for land rental. After that it was kind of whirlwind ride with the garden. Some weekends were tiring and some were fruitful (well I should say vegetable full may be). Planning what to sow, how to protect with fence, obtaining tips from fellow/neighbor gardeners, peeking in to their plots to understand the layouts etc.,

  

In between this super busyness, I am also surprised how my 3 year old enjoyed this experience. Instead of gluing to TV or exploring a touch device, we are happy how he explored dirt, leaves, roots, bugs.. what not. I am not against to the technology but kids need to know the TRUE world vs Virtuality. Some exposure is needed especially in this super techie world. So, him getting little pauses and enjoying the mud world made me felt happy. When I visited India at the end of the summer season, he was excitedly sharing his adventures in dirt with grandparents which is a clear indication he enjoyed it too. On other side our tanned skin indicated all the hard work that was put forward.

Even for me it was satisfactory with the results obtained for first time. Looking through the buds, enjoying the tiny fruits and then final produce made me feel all the work that was put in was worthwhile. Until now I am no good at recognizing the plants when coming to lot of vegetables (little bit better on leafy vegetables side). This experience helped me in surpassing that obstacle. Working hard in the sun for 3-4 hours on Saturday/Sunday provided us with a good workout. And finally these vegetables taste and look entirely different. Overall it’s a worthy start.

  

As the season closes I am eagerly looking forward for Summer 2019 for another adventure.