Growing up, my dad was very into having a garden for my mom. Whether it was planting basil so we could have pesto all winter long or fresh strawberries for summer smoothies, he was determined to have a green thumb. But like all great ideas, there is usually a rough “patch” behind them. Being from Chicago, his thumb color was no where near what it was needed to be, so when he went to Home Depot in search of a packet of heirloom tomato seeds, young strawberry plants, and a fresh basil plant, he had very little knowledge on how to read the tags attached to them. “Part sun? Erik, do you think “part” means 2 or 6 hours? I have no idea”. (This was before smartphones). While he seemed to be able to figure out that the picture of the sun meant all day sun and the cloud meant shade, he had very little experience and no one to sponsor his knowledge of home agriculture, so he was left standing in the middle of a home improvement store second guessing himself. Even the employee admitted being more knowledgable in power tools rather than what kind of soil to buy. Needless to say, after many years or strawberries dying in the shade and deer eating tomatoes and peppers, he finally understood how to keep and maintain a garden.
This post was so charming. I also have fond memories of my parents gardening (or trying to). I think that your dad’s experience is representative of what happens when you try to get into a new hobby and it’s quite relatable. When you enter a new sphere, in his case, gardening, you have to learn the jargon and become familiar with the processes, and that can be hard if you don’t have anyone to teach you. For example, I’ve gotten into cooking recently, and jesus christ, the amount of things I’ve had to look up or find diagrams to understand is astounding. It’s hard to imagine learning how to do things without the internet!
I really liked this blog post, even though I grew up completely opposite! I came from a community that was completely agricultural. Growing up, I gained great knowledge of everything outdoors, whether it be fishing, gardening, etc. Because of this, I found that when I came to Chicago, there weren’t as many places or outlets where people can go to do these things. I, much like your story, had to quickly become more knowledgable about “city” things from locals who probably thought I was an absolute idiot. Over time though, I learned the ways of city living like taking the train, that walking a mile to go somewhere is OKAY, and that crowds and noise are just an every day occurance. It’s interesting to see it from the other side though, as agriculture was never something that seemed foreign to me growing up.