I am incredibly blessed and lucky to be the primary caretaker of my family’s backyard. It’s an astounding amount of work, but I have been conditioned to enjoy and appreciate it. Not to sound overly morbid, but I hope my last day alive would be to put in a day of work in the garden, tell my family I love them, and sit down in the shade of a tree I planted, and fall asleep and pass peacefully. Maybe when I’m 80 or a 100 with grandchildren.

The future belongs to those that show up and I fully intend to plant trees where I might not be able to enjoy the shade and there are no guarantees future generations will continue the love and work I put into my garden, and that’s okay. I’m here… for now.

Pictured are pomegranate trees, two in the backyard, two blood orange trees, a pomelo tree, and a bunch of seedlings I am working on. In the ground are corn and beans. I started the corn way way way way too early in February like a mad man. I should have waited until April, but hey! But seeds are cheap and I love watching seeds germinate and sprout. It never gets old. That demonstrates my ability to give life and put my time, talent, and treasure into making things beautiful and hopefully tasty too. I don’t work for free! I expect literal fruits from my labor!!!