You see, my grandmother has a green thumb. I grew up helping her tend to her huge garden in the house my dad grew up in. She had lush grass, different fruit trees, herbs, and shrubs, a giant greenhouse I only stepped into once (because, you know, snakes maybe), and an abundance of Orchids she meticulously took care of and sold with a sense of pride. I'd weed the garden for her, water and trim some plants, mow the grass, and every now and then, she'd tell me that I, too, had the green thumb.
When we moved out of her house to settle in one of our own, I didn't get a chance to put my green thumb to the test because we lived in a townhouse without a yard, which really wasn't a big deal because I always just thought that grandmothers had to say those things like how mothers have to say you're attractive. The curiosity was always there, though, because I always liked seeing little plants sprout from vegetables like onions.
Fast forward to moving out and settling down in a place of my own with my partner, Jose. We had some pineapples sent from his parents place near Tagaytay, and I recalled a story about someone who actually thought that pineapples grew from trees. Obviously I knew they came for the ground, but I never thought about how you actually planted one, so I asked him. Jose's parents used to have a farm when he was younger where they grew crops like tomatoes, so from experience he explained that you take the top of the pineapple, partially submerge it in water, then wait for some roots to pop out of it. So I did.
It took a few weeks and several water changes, but soon, roots did start to crawl out from the bottom of the pineapple top! I was so excited because Jos told me that when the roots were long enough, I could transfer it from the water and into soil, and eventually have a pineapple of my own! Thing was, our house that time didn't have any patch of soil at all, so even if the roots grew about a foot, I never got to plant it. The pineapple top survived, though (until I decided to just throw it away lol). It was then I remembered my grandmother and her belief in my thumb, and I thought, huh, maybe she was right.
Okay, so maybe it started with a pineapple. Regardless something started and I was able to get something started. When Jos and I moved to a new place with a small garden, I one day decided to plant a small sweet potato (there it is!) that had sprouted a little purple stem as an experiment.
I couldn't tell you the exact time it took to grow because I really want keeping track, but let me tell you, it grew pretty fast! From the time I took that picture, it grew this much:
And in that span of kamote, I thought about planting more things, and to sort of document this little venture as I went along. So, this blog is going to be all about inexperienced me, cultivating a little farm at home, following a program that I'll be tackling on a separate entry that allows you to have "food always in the home", or FAITH.
Fingers crossed my green thumb helps this blog grow, too!
