Hi, I'm Vera! I grew up in suburbia San Diego; after college, I moved to San Francisco (where I met my now husband) and then Chicago (Where I got my first furbaby and had a person baby, also, I'm a city girl at heart!). I now live on my in-law's farm (66+ acres of farmland, no animals...yet) outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We're not actually farmers; we leave that to the professionals; however, we are avid gardeners. We believe in the adventures of growing your own food for the pure joy and satisfaction of "I grew that!".
Growing up, my dad had this huge garden in our tiny side yard (at least my memories make it huge), and I loved seeing it all grow and playing in the mud. I remember the first time a carrot grew; it blew my mind! "So, dad, you're telling me we don't have to go to the store to get carrots, we can put this tiny seed in the dirt, wait a long time, and we'll have a carrot!" This sparked my interest in gardening, and when I had my own apartment in San Francisco, I was constantly growing herbs and greens. It could have been sunnier, so it was a slow but satisfying process.
Herbs were my gateway to gardening; I loved growing life and enjoying adding it to a meal. Basil is always my hero in summer; the more leaves I picked, the bigger and bushier the plant became. When we moved to Chicago, we'd come up to the farm every other weekend, and since we had access to open land, we started with our Rock Garden and grew tomatoes, basil, oregano, thyme, as well as a few greens. I loved going to the nursery and seeing all the possibilities of plants that I could grow!
Fast forward to today; I have a 4-year-old son, and we live on the farm. (Being a city person, I never thought I'd live on a farm, but I love it but still miss city life daily.) We rent the acres of land out to local dairy farmers who use regenerative farming techniques for their crops, but we have some space for our veggie and flower garden.
We started with our Rock Garden and have since put in a few raised beds, and that was when I realized how much easier it is to control the environment (as best as I can) and how much easier it is to contain it all, as well as access it. This past summer, we tried in-ground gardening. It had many challenges, and the significant and unexpected crop of delicata and acorn squash grew independently, thanks to our compost. That's a bigger story for later…
I've learned a lot and find growing my own vegetables, herbs, and greens extremely rewarding. I think a big part of it is because winter is so long, gray, and cold here in Wisconsin, and when I look out the window, I see brown…and my favorite color is green. So as soon as the first peaks of green start to show up in March, I am elated with the possibilities! Also, when the seed catalogs start rolling in January, I get excited at the varieties and new things to try. One of the things I love most is that buying seeds can be affordable unless you go overboard. Which I have done, it's human nature, but I am happy to walk you through and share how I go about not over-buying.
I started this website to help families learn how to grow food and get their kids outside. My son is happiest outdoors; he's learning the concept of not harvesting too soon; it's a process. I recently learned from his school that kids 3-4 years old need 180 minutes of vigorous daily activity; that's 3 hours! That's a lot of time, and to be realistic, it's not always feasible, but I've learned that just being outside helps him regulate his big feelings and, honestly, mine too.
My experience with gardening has come from a lot of trial and error, just to see what works and what doesn't. I've taken the University of Madison's Green Thumb Gardening Program, read dozens of books, and watched plenty of gardening shows (hello, Magnolia Network on HBO!); I get dirty and always give it a try. I've learned that there are strategies to make planting easier for you, and I am happy to share and teach you too. Many people say, "If I can do it, you can too!" However, this is true! You will know once you try, and you can start simple like I did with my Rock Garden and grow year to year.
There is no such thing as a brown thumb or even a green thumb; it's all about learning, trial, and error, and, most importantly, having fun while doing it!
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