Let's grow food! A simple idea that got… complicated
So here's the thing - my parents gave all us siblings a little patch of dirt to grow things in, in our suburban backyard as kids. They probably had these sweet visions of us all tending to seedlings and learning about nature, and passing on their love of gardening.
Instead, for me, it my patch became a forgotten corner around the side of the house.
Oops.
"I'm not the gardening type" - well, that story started pretty young for me.
Then I met mu former husband, Nick, whose Croatian dad had a legendary suburban veggie garden situation going on. And Nick? He found a way to grow food wherever we lived. Even when we were crammed into this tiny place with a concrete courtyard in Sydney's inner west for five years, he somehow made it work. Those cherry tomatoes were absolutely chefs kiss - the kind that spoil you for life.
But then, when Nick died at 40, suddenly the gardener was gone. The grower, the harvester, the one who actually knew what he was doing, and loved it.
And me? I definitely did NOT pick up where he left off.
I mean, I let the orange and lemon trees in our tiny courtyard do their thing because what else was I going to do? And there's a ridiculously sturdy rosemary bush that just keeps going no matter what. But all those beautiful plants people brought us when Nick passed? They slowly withered away under my spectacular lack of green thumb skills.
"I'm not the gardening type" felt like... fact.
But then I started learning about climate change and how it's going to mess with our food supply in ways that honestly terrify me. And there's this part of me that's been craving something more connected to nature, to seasons, to what's actually REAL
So I decided it was time. Time for the permaculture dream (fantasy!) to actually happen.
Now, a normal person would probably just get some decent soil and plant stuff in the existing garden beds, right?
Nope. Not me.
I decided I needed veggie planter boxes. Custom ones. Made from sustainable timber (yes, timber - apparently calling it "wood" makes Instagram followers gently correct you).
‘Not wood Lisa - timber!’ OK - got it team 😉
Which meant learning how to use a drill. And getting spiritual with a spirit level. And basically making my life way harder than it needed to be.
Here's what you need to know about my DIY skills: I literally didn't know the difference between a nail and a screw when I started this whole adventure. We're talking absolute beginner territory here.
But I'm actually pretty proud of what I've managed so far, even if the learning curve has been... let's call it steep. And messy. And occasionally rage-inducing.
Oh, and the jokes. The ‘wood’ jokes I've discovered along this journey... if you didn't already know I had a filthy mind, well, you're about to find out just how deep that rabbit hole goes.
The whole ridiculous story - complete with all the missteps, the swearing, and yes, all those inappropriate jokes - is over on Episode 3 of Women on the Verge. Because some things are just better told with actual sound effects and dramatic pauses, you know?
Here’s the truth… Sometimes the things we think we're "not the type" for are exactly what we need to lean into. Climate change isn't waiting for me to figure out which end of a drill to hold. And maybe being ‘the gardening type’ isn't something you're born with - maybe it's just something you become when life kicks you in the right direction.
Consider me kicked.
