Here we are. February. Easily the most depressing month of the year. Things are bleak outside these farmhouse windows and the news is even bleaker. My writing over these past few weeks has been generally positive, but Wellbutrin and self care can only do so much. I need something to look forward to.
If that’s relatable, here’s my advice:
When things get low it’s time to dig even deeper, right into the soil.
Gardening is hope. Planning a garden when everything outside is frozen solid, even more so. The seed catalogs, notebooks, sketches and dreams can start now. Doing so gives you more than a goal—it’s everyday progress towards June—towards warmth and flowers and sunlight and thunderstorms.
It feels so far away, but the act of planning food production now means I believe I will figure out a way to remain here another growing season. It means I’m making plans for a future I don’t even know if I’ll have. Planting seeds means you want to remain. And for someone with severe depression like me, that’s practically prayer.
I want the paying subscribers of this substack be a part of the farm in a tangible way. You can either watch the process for entertainment or follow along with the plan and start digging your own patch, using the ideas we cultivate here.
Everything will be shared. If you’re new to this and have no idea how to even start- you can do this too. I promise it will be simple, cheap, and scalable. If I’m planting 20 lettuce plants, you can plant 3.
I’ll share everything from seed orders and varieties I plant to how to can tomato sauce for beginners. You pay hard -earned money to support this farm, so consider this a Food Production 101 class happening a little at a time, a bonus course you can consume in bite-size chunks. I want growing food to be simpler, easier, and accessible to as many readers as possible.
I want to make this a monthly, or bi-monthly series. I imagine there are master gardeners reading this beside people that don’t know potatoes grow flowers. Perfect. All of your are welcome and needed. We need the wisdom from gardeners better than me (most of you) and the fresh energy of the garden-curious.
More gardens mean more food. More food mean less hunger and less money spent. It’s better for you (and the whole world) to plant one snap pea in a pot than doomscrolling alone. Why not both!
Let’s plan the CAF Gardens Together!

I want your input, suggestions, and help. I want people that understand flowers too, because I want to beautify this place with color more than ever before!
I also want to do this cheaply - meaning starting from seeds directly in the ground, if at all possible. So if you know a great place that mails trees for $50 each, no thank you. That’s not in the budget. Where can I get 20lbs of tomatoes for $1.99 in a seed packet that are easy to start in a windowsill, is more like it.
I don’t have a greenhouse or indoor seed-starting supplies. I don’t want to buy them either. I want to focus on fruits, berries, roots, and vegetables that will perform well in my zone, in our short growing season, and that I and others love to eat. I don’t care if I am growing French Fries if it feeds kids in my town.
You Too, Babe
If you can’t grow or never have, tag along and learn with me. Read or listen to these posts, what do you have to lose? Perhaps all you’ll try is a window box of salad mix and some porch tomatoes in planters, but if you never grew your own food before, trust me, they will taste AMAZING.
You will have fun, feel proud, save money, and possibly get Barnheart but reading this substack means you probably already have it, so keep reading.
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