The first time I tried in school to grow sprouts failed, I got a small little ball of sprouts that were probably no good. I was away for the long weekend and couldn't take care of a new batch so I started on Monday when I got home. I can't really write about the entire experience of growing sprouts right now, but I can talk about the experience of growing my own food.
When I was much younger my mother joined our Co-op's garden. We got lucky and our patch partner only likes to plant in one corner so we have the rest of the patch to ourselves. I used to really like gardening; getting muddy and playing with the hoses. There was even a "club" that I made with one of my friends where we sat under a tree and collected sap and herbs and mashed them up with rocks. I would get really excited whenever spring rolled around.
Each year my mom likes to try one or two new plants. I would always choose a new flower to try and she would always choose a new vegetable. Every spring/summer we always have snow or snap peas growing along with mint, rosemary, oregano, basil, usually some lemon balm, and tomatoes. We like to make the patch colorful with some marigolds (they tend to come back each year on their own). And yes, we do actually eat the vegetables and herbs that we grow.
Sometimes growing our own food can be frustrating. There have been some seasons where we plant something new and it never shows up; a waste of space and time. Because the season in which we can harvest our vegetables is so short, we like to maximize our space and we want plants that will give us something useful pretty fast.
I do enjoy going out to the garden every once in a while and checking on the patch or reading on one of the picnic benches, but I'm not as enthusiastic about growing plants. I do however enjoy the outcome; one of my favorite things to eat is fresh basil, it's one of those things that tastes just "OK" when it's not fresh, but it full of flavor and color when it's fresh from the patch.
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