Garden Therapy.....

Not really sure how many people read what I write but I thought it was time to explain the silence. I felt that just continuing to blithely post what I was cooking / eating seemed insensitive and decided to put myself on a pause. I didn’t want to just “jump on the bandwagon” and add yet another white voice to the noise.

There are people out there who are smarter than I, who’ve experienced bigotry or prejudice first hand and I thought it best to stop, look and listen. The world doesn’t need is yet another white person saying how empathetic they are, how they understand. The fact is I don’t understand what it’s like to fear for my life if I’m stopped by a cop for a traffic violation. Even when many of us posted on Blackout Tuesday, we white folks messed up. We overpopulated that site with black photos when the organizers needed access to the site and were using it to communicate with people. Celebrities and Influencers were asked to post that we all needed to stop posting.

So I took these two weeks and read what was being written and said and listened. I had conversations with close friends and myself about my own inherent biases and have tried to rethink some of them. Far be it for me to say I don’t have any - everyone has something. Whether you don’t like skin color, weight, dress of someone, we all carry something in us.

I went to a peaceful protest, reposted meaningful posts and thought about how I could help be the change.

I decided the best way for me to help is help get the vote out in a swing state and have adopted the state of Arizona. Time for a change in the White House!!!!! Not being entirely selfless I’m hoping maybe I can visit and finally go to one of Chris Bianco’s pizzerias. I also am hoping maybe I can finally visit Chris Bianco’s place (We went to HS together and I’m obsessed!)

I’m adding the link if anyone else is interested in helping to get the vote out. I’ve done two training sessions so far. Two more to go!

https://votesaveamerica.com/adopt-a-state/

I also decided that watching plants grow was a good way to think about new beginnings and planted my first raised bed garden. Hopefully I’ll be able to cook some things from what I planted. I planted every baby lettuces, tomatoes, eggplants, zucchinis and jalapenos plus every herb I could find. I added in some sunflowers and we’ll see what happens.

I also realized that I truly enjoy sharing recipes with everyone and getting into the nitty gritty of the actual cooking. And I like eating!:). In this time of Covid and now the protesting, I recognize the value there is in sitting down to a meal and talking. Listening, focusing and being present. I may not have any great ideas but I can certainly make you feel welcome, loved and taken care of by making a meal that should make your taste buds sing. And if I can inspire you to cook something that I’ve shared I’ve done a good job.

So that’s my little bit. Back to the cooking and posting!

I got a little help from the neighborhood kids!