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I am still working towards spring planting here at Food It Yourself headquarters. This week, a few snow peas popped up. I completed an expansion of the front yard strawberry beds and moved some of the herbs around. I still have to thin out the strawberries by moving some of them to the new beds. I also need to divide my mints and lemon balm. I am hoping to find loving homes for the divisions. Overall, it was a productive week. Then I woke up to this:

Yes, four inches of snow, on April 18. That is unusual, even by New England weather standards. To add to the oddity they are predicting temperatures around 60F tomorrow.

The day off from garden prep gave me a little time reflect on some news I have read from several outlets lately.

Take THAT everyone who glared at me when I told them lawns are stupid and vegetable gardens are awesome. Growing your own food is the thing to do this season. People are stepping up and taking control of their own food supply in this time of uncertainty.

Am I going to go all hipster and stop gardening because it is totally played out? Am I going to decry the COVID-19 Victory Gardeners as wannabes? Of course not! I am really, really excited that home food production is being discovered by so many. I hope every person who starts their first garden this year falls in love with it and keeps it up after the pandemic abates.

The internet is full of memes suggesting that in stead of going back to normal we should go back to better. I think an increase in gardeners can make that happen. Gardeners can give fresh vegetables to food pantries (call first to make sure they can store it, though). Gardening families can work together on a long-term project that ends with tomatoes, and grow closer. Gardening neighbors can plan who will plant what and share over the fence, and grow a stronger community. The physical work of gardening grows our empathy for subsistence farmers and farm laborers. Gardening grows our humility and patience as we wait for crops that might fail. Gardening has no downside. We grow when we grow. Let’s all grow!

Are you a first-time gardener? What are you growing? Are you a veteran gardener? What do you wish you new when you started? Share in the comments!