By: Alana Brockett
Growing up I saw such a sense of community around gardening. I live in a big neighborhood in Southbury, Connecticut. Neighbors walk to each other’s houses carrying veggies and plants they have too much of. It’s a love language for a lot of people, including my mother, who takes pride in what she grows. Every summer my mother’s favorite plants to grow are cucumbers, tomatoes, and Black Eyed Susan’s. To this day whenever I see Black Eyed Susans I think of my mom. She would always make a nice arrangement of them in a vase and give them to me to put in my room. She also taught me how to take care of flowers so they survive for a long time. She always taught me to cut off most of the leaves and cut the stems a little shorter and put them in a vase of water. Now in college whenever my friends get bouquets I am the one who knows the best way to take care of them.
Southbury is rural with a lot of farm land so gardens and garden centers are something I grew up going to with my mom. I saw her always working hard to make sure her plants survived, I saw her going to garden centers picking up supplies and asking for advice. She showed her love to people by giving them her favorite things that she grew. I saw her support local farm stands and buy eggs from people with chickens, and it really impacted me and made me want to support local farmers more rather than big companies. I found that food I bought from local places tasted better and was also cheaper. It really made me question some of the produce at the grocery store.
Local farm stand in Southbury CT
Image from mitchellfarmct.com
Growing up my mom also loved to compost and loved what it did for our soil and helped her plants grow. She has a coffee container that she replaces every few weeks and we put all our fruit and veggie scraps in there. Im so used to it that now being in college and just throwing egg shells away feels so weird. The compost has made me a lot more conscious of what Im throwing away and what can go in the compost. I love that we are able to repurpose food scraps into really good soil for the plants. I love these memories I have with my mom. It makes me feel closer to her and I love learning about the things that make her happy. I love that she loves sharing her interests with me.
Now every summer I look forward to not having to purchase cucumbers or tomatoes because they are in my front yard. I make salads with our veggies and display the flowers throughout the house. My mom always spent so much time on her garden every spring and summer and I have so many memories of her putting in the time to make her plants grow. My mother inspired me in so many ways to be environmentally conscious while also growing things you are proud of.
Our garden by our walkway! Lots of Black Eyed Susan’s!
Photo taken by my mother Eugenia Brockett