14 Buckets

As a kid, I always wanted a green thumb. I stared in awe at people who had mastered the enigmatic world of plants. My father seemed especially gifted, and kept our various yards beautifully landscaped while I was growing up. As I meandered into adulthood, I tried my hand at growing things — indoors and outdoors— but other hobbies and activities took priority. At last, a hard-to-kill pothos came home with me once and I remembered it enough to keep it alive. This little glimmer of hope inspired me to pay attention, and that’s when I received an important clue to the human-plant relationship: taking time. That is, time to listen and time to have a conversation.

Now, in my late 30s, I’m still very much a beginner. Let’s say a budding naturalist. You’re going to have to put up with a lot of puns. I’m keeping a record here of my garden/forest adventures for the sake of posterity, and also as a way to hold myself accountable to the studies I’m undertaking. Perhaps you are like me, on your own journey, and perhaps you are also noticing that for every question posed, you may get an answer but you will undoubtedly uncover even more questions.

I started a garden this spring of 2021 and I thought it’d be useful to count the daily buckets of water — I don’t use a hose, and I am stubborn about it. At the time of writing this, it takes 14 buckets of water to make the rounds in my vegetable garden. I already have a creeping sense that the number will change, or transform, or that perhaps I will cave and get a hose.

Let’s see where this goes!

Telle ⚘