When I was in high school I remember spending hours in Betty Doyle’s massive vegetable garden on Hurricane Road in Keene, NH. I loved having my toes in the soil, weeding, laughing with Betty and of course bringing my bounty home to stir fry.
Flash forward to my urban existance on Marathon St in Arlington. I have been whining about my tiny yard for years. It has barely enough room for the kids to play in and until this fall when I chose to cut down a hemlock tree to make room for my future vegetable garden. Although, I wept like a baby at the cutting of this massive tree, replacing it with plants and now a 10 x 10 plot of fresh soil has finally created closure my treehugger’s mourning.
Although I had my share of critics on the Arlington List ( our town’s highly opinionated list serve) who felt like I should plant and maintain my own garden, my time is limited and when young Ben (who I found on the A list) came to my house and offered his very reasonable services, that amounted to the cost of one week of groceries, how could I resist? I am all for “doing it yourself” but I also see the tremendous value and satisfaction in supporting a young entrepreneur like Ben. I see it more as a partnership. He has the skills, the passion and the talent that I want to invest in. Having a small garden reminded me of Italy, where no one has lawns, but everyone has gardens! Now that Ben has gotten me started, the kids and I just have to maintain it.
Come to find out Ben skipped college and has been travelling the world to learn about growing food. He spent time in New Zealand and is now back in the Arlington trying, with the help of mom, to “grow” his business. Standing over my fresh soil, he asks me what veggies I like, I ask him what he wants to name his business. He says “Dig It”, I suggest “We Dig It”. He likes that and keeps digging.
The garden is now planted. I better get watering! I am still not sure what I am going to do when we travel during the month of July and are away in August but I know I can pay Ben to do it. OK I won’t be doing the “work” and therefore cannot collect my “Do-it-yourself Gardener stars” but at least we will be producing lots of food that I plan to share with anyone who wants it. Want to be a bit greener? Find yourself a gardener and turn that lawn into a garden. Just imagine if every tiny urban lawn was, for a small investment, turned into a veggie garden. Just imagine if more young urban kids realized that they could support themselves by digging up lawns and planting seeds.
Live in the Arlington area? Got a small, sunny plot of land? Grow your own veggies!
email Ben @ Bennyb73@gmail.com
