Gardening is in my roots. I grew up on a farm in rural Iowa where we had three separate gardens. One was in the backyard, one by the old chicken house, and the third … out in the west field. It was a long way to walk, especially if you were carrying buckets of water for thirsty, young seedlings and it hadn’t rained in weeks.

Growing up gardening, I didn’t know what it was like to not garden. Gardens were planted every single year; rain, shine, or hail. My parents instilled that into us. All siblings had to help with gardening. As garden drones, that generally meant carrying water and tools for mom, harvesting, becoming proficient with a hoe, or being on bug patrol with a shaker can of ‘Sevin’. Chemicals were part of gardening. My parents taught us that chemicals controlled diseases and insects which meant that we had more produce to harvest. Chemicals made gardening easier.
When I went to college, it was a natural for me to major in horticulture. But an interesting thing happened while I was in college. I learned. These teachings were much different than my experiences on the farm. Not all agriculture chemicals were safe to be around.
Words like ‘organic’, ‘earth friendly’ , and ‘integrated pest management‘ took root in my lexicon. I found myself at odds. I had been happily shaking the can, applying a white powder to our farm produce, yet some of those various powders and sprays were considered hazardous. That became very apparent during a class that prepped horticulture students studying for their applicator’s license.
This lesson was further driven home through some of my college experiences as a horticulture student. Experience 1: I was selected to help a professor apply ‘Temik’ to a greenhouse that had become infested. At that time, ‘Temik‘ was the most toxic chemical in the horticulture industry. Experience 2: it became my job while caring for the roses in the trial garden to spray them every two weeks. To prepare for spraying, I had to don long pants, boots, long sleeve shirt, jacket, cap, gloves, goggles, coveralls, and a respirator. Tell me… is a chemical truly non-toxic if it requires that much safety gear?
With college behind me as well as the farm, I felt free to make my own decisions. Organic gardening became my mantra. I raised more produce with fewer chemicals and a HAZMAT suit was not required.
But as an organic gardener, I must confess that some insects creep me out. Spiders are a natural pest control. Great, right? Yes… up until they creep out from under a bunch of freshly harvested kale sitting on the kitchen counter. It is all I can do to NOT run from the kitchen. So with several deep breaths, I take a leaf and scoop up the spider and deposit him back into the garden where he belongs.
Tomato horn worms are also stuff of nightmares. They are just so big and squishy. If they make an appearance in the yard, I pluck the entire leaf they are munching on and either toss them into the chicken run for the girls to take care of or lord help me, I have been known to toss the offending leaf/bug combination over the fence into the neighbor’s yard.
I look at my yard and garden beds. I will never have the perfectly manicured lawn. Yes, there are weeds. Yes, there are bugs. I am OK with that. Perhaps what college changed the most was my perception of gardening? Weeds can be pulled and bugs can be squished (or captured and given to the chickens). My reward for changing my style of gardening? Plucking a tomato straight from the plant and eating it while it is still warm from the sun.
I confess to loving my style of gardening.
My gardening style is far from perfect or manicured but I like my style, too. You are so right plucking a tomato right off the vine and eating it is near to heaven. Thanks for sharing your confession on the Home Acre Hop.
I think that there is no greater reward than being able to eat your produce straight from the garden without fear of chemicals.
I rarely spray, and then it’s water from the hose. If that doesn’t work, then maybe I’ll get some Safers out, or if things are dire I can use sulphur. But usually I’m content to share with the bugs and let the spiders, manitis, dragonflies, and lady bugs help out with their crawling brethern. OR I stop growing things such as Brussels Sprouts because they get so full of aphids, they are inedible.
This year, our kale is bug-free. I think with all the moisture, the bugs never had a chance. Usually, I end up feeding the kale to the chickens because of the aphids. So we will celebrate this victory and eat more goodies straight from the garden.
I really enjoyed that. You are speaking my language. Perfect gardens and fruit and veges scare me. Mother Nature is not perfect and I’d rather have the bugs (preferably in the garden rather than the kitchen) and have healthy, sometimes blemished food I can eat without worrying about what’s been sprayed on it.
I am glad you enjoyed this post. And for myself, I would rather be able to eat what I grow without worry (as long as the bugs stay outside).
I enjoyed this blog so much. Last night we were picking green beans and I asked hubby if he had eaten any yet. He said no and I said “Do!”. “Can we?” “Yes, that is one of the many joys of no chemicals–I feel like I can take a taste or 2 while working.” The gardens are far from perfect in some folks eyes, they have lots of grass and weeds right now due to all the rain we have had so everything is growing. But that does not keep me from harvesting alot of food-there is perfection in that!
Yes… there is perfection in harvesting and eating as you go. We are also having a very wet year and so the weeds have gone nuts. But I just breath deeply and enjoy what we have and weed when we can. 🙂