You might be an Urban Inca if...

3. Growing your own herbs and veggies makes you feel downright 
   giddy.  Guilty!

Recently, thanks to my groovy friend, Jacinda, I became a member of the Tampa Heights Community Garden.  I didn't dive into it. At first, I was content to watch as others planted and toiled, only trimming Jacinda's collard greens which had taken off.

Tampa Heights Community Garden (Can you find the butterfly?)

A few weeks ago, members gathered and prepared the soil for spring plantings. I took a risk and planted green beans, pepper, zucchini and carrot seeds.  I had had some success at home with peppers and was excited to try it on a larger scale.


Baby pepper!

I returned once a week, my young son in tow, to check progress. The carrots didn't make it far but the pepper and green beans had sprouted and were looking healthy.

This weekend I returned again.  Previous weeks brought peppers and yet more collard greens and along with the veggies and herbs, friendships grew or were revived.  And maybe it's that holidays make me reflect or hormones doing their sinful business, but yesterday, when I visited and found that we finally had green beans that I thought of Peru. 



Green beans grown from seed!

My grandfather was a farmer in Mollepata, a small agricultural town in the Sacred Valley of the Incas.  I felt he would be proud to see me there tearing up over green beans.  And then I thought of my mom and the gift she gave me; the gift of knowing my heritage and, inadvertently, where food comes from, the joy of connecting with nature.


Sacred Valley of the Incas, Peru

 





I want to remember that feeling so I can share it with my son and anchor him to something real no matter how far he roams from home.



My son gazing at the setting sun on
 Hillsborough River, Tampa