When I first moved in with my partner, I used to grow corn - it didn't make a big difference to our food bill, but it demonstrated to the kids where (non-animal) food came from, and helps to form a connection to nature (and, I hope, some empathy for what our farmers go through). I haven't been able to do that for some time - mostly work demands, which I need to meet to continue supporting my family.
But this year, my partner's interest in growing things flowered, and she found her green thumb. We have a couple of little walls of green in the backyard, a new garden bed has been prepared and we've got the makings of another in the garage, and I have plans for a better composting area. The side area of the house, which many Melburnians convert to a greenery, is doing well, and is where I keep the more heat-sensitive trees (I keep all the trees below fence height, to minimise their thirst during heat waves: I also deliberately let them root out of the pot to give them access to more moisture [we also use improvised slow release bottles, with "knee hi" stockings to control the risk of mossies]).
Unfortunately, a major family illness means we have not been able to put the efforts we want into the garden over summer, and the pipsqueak corn won't bear anything this year, but we're well placed for next spring, and it still helps, in the middle of a city, to foster our connection with the natural world, and the healing and wellbeing that engenders.
I've posted a couple of photos below. It looks a little unkempt - it is: our focus has been on medical, not botanical, matters, but friends have been helping, matters medical are moving along, and we're coming up on autumn, when being outdoors is even more of a pleasure :)
