My Project 2025 - a garden of gardens
My version of Saeed Jones’ poem “My Project 2025”
This year
I am going to grow food
I am going to grow food
I am going to grow food
again
I am dreaming of a garden
a garden of gardens
a garden to bring to life
this year of 2025
of Nasturtium lined beds inspired by Monet’s garden
red orange gold spilling out into the paths
I will defrost the placentas
buried deep
in the freezer
I will go to the local nursery
or my teacher’s farm and buy Hazelnut trees
I will plant Hazelnut trees over the placentas,
these two organs
that grew my babies
that kept my last two children alive
inside my womb.
we will give thanks
pour oblations of honey, mead, milk
on the damp dark Spring ground
Later on I will bury cut potatoes in long trenches/hill them over
like Ken taught me to do oh so many years ago
I will slip tiny clay encased carrot seeds into rows
I have marked by dragging along the end of my hoe
I will sprinkle Kale seeds or arugula or flashy troutback lettus across the top
I will build a trellis for pole beans
to grow to the sky
I will plant all the flowers
and all the herbs
I can fit
into my fifty by fifty foot kitchen garden
I am telling you
I am dreaming to life
Towering SUNFLOWERS, re-seeding Calendulas
Ballerina tutu cosmos, Bells of Ireland,
the best-blue-of-all-time Bachelor buttons,
frothy Queen Anne’s lace and baby’s breath,
dangling red Amaranth, spikes of Snapdragons
Borage, Yarrow, Feverfew
Zinnia, Tithonia, that lime green Nicotiana I love so much
Echinacea, Elecampane, Marigolds and Poppies that never keep
no matter how long I hold the flame to their ends
I will make bouquets of odd numbers
like Kathryn taught me
I will make bouquets and bring them to my mother in law
who in her parkinson’s hoarse voice told me
on a beautiful day last fall when I invited her outside - “I don’t belong
outside anymore”
I will visit the gardens of my gardening friends
swap starts, take a small cutting, share seeds
snap off a pea, take a whiff of a cottage rose,
linger in the sun with them this coming summer
I will ask them
again
to show me their magic
plant-whispering ways
When I look at my garden I will see
loved ones and failings
Valerian from Kristin
Motherwort Grace gave me
miniature alpine strawberries from Heather -
the strawberriest strawberry I’ve ever had!
Lynden Blue grape I let die
fingers crossed Bruce gives me another
their concord grape flavor unparalleled!
the starts I ordered from the herbal nursery in CA
all dead save Cramp Bark
(and thank you for asking - she’s thriving)
Sambucus Cerulea I planted as a wee bairn
only to be eaten down by Deer, now well over my head
Joe Pye from Kristin
Ladies Mantle too
some flower seeds in a jar I still haven’t spread out
Purple Irises and crazed Honeysuckle I should have known better
than to plant as she’s well over six feet high,
but the neighbor round the corner said "Here!” & pressed a small vine into my hands
I will look at Blueberry and Plum, Pear and Apple (Florina, Akane, and Spartan)
planted by my husband and mother in law long before I came along,
and I will groan
knowing the bounty come fall -
there are only so many apple pies one can eat,
so much pear butter ones need,
but still, what a problem to have!!!!
I will check to see if tiny Witch Hazel by the back door still lives
Shasta daises Lillian dug from a job and brought home
Nootka Roses I missed from the island; I bought a bundle from the conservation sale - there will be even more blooms this summer
My last baby will walk this summer
he will walk into this garden of gardens
stumbling as he goes from all fours to two
my daughter will turn four this summer
and she will walk into this garden of gardens
knowing she can eat this, pick this, share this
my son will turn sixteen this summer
and he will walk into this garden of gardens
harvest food for a dinner he will help make,
grumble this spring about the digging and the raking and the shoveling
my husband will walk into this garden this summer
and he will help finish all the tasks he knows and I know I will forget/ get distracted by nursing the baby/soothing a nerve/cloud gazing/ starting a meal/returning a text/ looking at this beautiful garden of gardens in awe and delight
This year
I am going to grow food again
this year
I will grow food
this year
I will grow food again
P.S. here is one of my favorite local places to buy seeds from