Wagon Wheel Homestead

Verse of the day: John 14:27

Gardening has always been a part of my life. From a young age, I can remember having a very small garden of mostly tomatoes and a few onions. Nothing crazy by any means. I didn’t always have a garden as a child, but when I did, I wanted to grow so many things, and tomatoes were my biggest priority. Transitioning into adult life, that too has remained the same. I own more tomato seeds than I have the space for. As a child, I had a huge dream of owning my own farm, along with many other dreams that a child has.

During the COVID pandemic of 2019, this was the first time seeing the stores have so many empty shelves. I had never seen anything like that in my life, as most of the world was in shock. Most of us have never have bard witness to anything like that before going on around the world at such a mass scale. Stores empty, restrictions on the amount of food you could buy at one time, lockdowns, the media making everything sound so horrible and depressing…a time I’ll never forget. COVID brought back the memory and dream of wanting to own my own farm that I had at such an early age of life. A dream I had forgotten about and buried deep in my mind. That was the year I tried to grow more food and started looking at property to buy. What I hadn’t realized was the price of land was so expensive and unreachable for me at the time.

Looking back, land was not nearly as expensive as it is currently. I have yet to buy land, but I grow what I can with the space I have. In the words of Jessica Sowards from Roots & Refuge Farm, “turn your waiting room into a classroom”, I have done just that. I started learning how to care for chickens, gardening tips, canning, etc. If I can’t have my dream property now, let this time not be wasted in doing nothing. I can be a bit of a sponge, when I want to learn something, I dive headfirst into the topic I want to explore. Learning about gardening more efficiently was easy for me, learning about canning terrified me. Canning must be done properly to ensure no one, or you get sick from the food you have preserved.

Upon touching on this dream once more, I realized gardening and learning to not rely on groceries stores is much of a lost art. In 1945, 45% of America grew most of their food, during that time they were known as Victory Gardens. Today only 0.1% of Americans still produce their own food. It’s insane how we have lost this art and became so reliant and complacent in our lives. During COVID, there was a huge spike in others starting to grow food as the grocery stores were empty. On top of it, most of us didn’t have a job until the lockdowns were lifted, so we had even more time on our hands. I believe COVID woke us up, including myself as well. It’s common to see our grandparents and great-grandparents knowing how to preserve food, care for farm animals, etc. That is how they grew up and how they raised their kids as well. Today most of us have no idea where to even begin.

If it wasn’t for COVID, me and many other people would still only rely on the grocery stores without a second thought. You don’t have to have a massive garden if you don’t want too, but seeing so many people getting back into old traditions and learning makes me so happy. Rediscovering the joy of gardening has been amazing for me over the past few years. Gardening is where I pray, have peace, and look forward to the future of doing more. I love having friends over and no matter what, I will drag them through my garden to show them. Another thing I do is have everyone try new varieties I am growing and encouraging them to start their own space even if it’s small. If you believe you have a red thumb with gardening, trust me it’s worth trying again, don’t give up. Learn what you can and always put your mind to it.

God bless!