How it began

Chatting over tea this winter, my uncle and I looked out at the yard. I mentioned our tentative plans.

"We're thinking about putting in more of a garden this year - we'd like to grow more food, maybe do some canning or preserving."

His thrifty eye noted the raised beds Forrest had put together just a week or two before, and he immediately said, "if you put in enough of them, you could rent them!" The idea of a yard filled with growing things - edible things - appealed to both of us, and the entire yard was actually more than we could manage.

Then I met Amy Pennington at February's Farmer Chef Connection and she told me about her new Urban Garden Share matching service. Sharing and bartering won out over renting - at least for now while we see how it works. So when she launched in March, I was the first in Ballard to post.

The open space north of my house has been a garden for most of its urban years. My family moved in way back in 1907, from Sweden by way of Wisconsin, and the family raised much of their own food. The barn in the backyard, demolished in 1993, housed a cow, a horse and chickens. My grandfather was just seven years old when they moved in.

When my grandparents purchased the deed in the mid-20s, Ballard had long since been annexed to the city and the neighborhood was growing. The barn continued to be home to chickens but also found new use as storage for garden implements. My grandfather's garden was the jewel of the neighborhood for all the years they lived here, and my 95-year-old neighbor still tells the stories. He readily shared his harvest with all the neighbors, the trash collectors, and anyone who took an interest. His peaches, Roma tomatoes, peas, pole beans and "ground cherries" were the treats I grew up with.

After my grandfather's death, there was a time when the yard was just a yard, full of overgrown grass, blackberries and every other invasive weed. The fruit from the trees decomposed, and various critters took refuge in the brush. I'll give Shiv credit for the initial inspiration to start planting again, but the memory must burn deep because I'm moved beyond words by what we're creating here now.

(Photo - backyard, June 07)