About Growing My Dinner

Welcome. Growing My Dinner is for people who feel a quiet tug toward a simpler, steadier life. Not the “move to a cabin and churn butter” kind of simple, unless that is your particular delight, but the kind that comes from growing something real, learning a little each season, and remembering that life wants to live.

This space began as a place to share practical gardening knowledge, and that still matters here. But the garden has also become a place of sanctuary, experiment, humility, food security, and returning to a calmer rhythm.

What this site is about

At the practical level, this is a food gardening site. We talk about growing vegetables and herbs, building healthy soil, designing beds, choosing varieties, managing pests with a clear head, and preserving what you harvest.

At the deeper level, this is a place for gardeners who do not want the garden to feel like another performance metric. If you are tired, overwhelmed, brand new, quietly discouraged, or returning after a long pause, you are still welcome here. We work with reality: weather, soil, time, energy, budgets, imperfect beds, and ordinary lives.

I care about food security because it changes something inside us. A garden can soften grocery stress, increase confidence, and bring a particular kind of peace: the kind that comes from knowing you can participate in your own nourishment.

What you will find here

• Garden design that fits real lives, including small, imperfect, start-here gardens.
• Soil care, composting, feeding the soil, and building resilience over time.
• Plant-specific guides for vegetables, herbs, fruit, and other edible plants.
• Pest and disease management with a calm, observant approach, not panic and scorched earth.
• Harvest and preservation, including freezing, drying, fermenting, canning, and saving the season.
• Recipes and kitchen notes that help you actually use what you grew, because zucchini happens.

I am friendly with research here. I like good information. But I also believe a garden is a living system, not a battle plan. If something works but harms the soil, insects, birds, water, or your spirit, I am going to have questions.

Who I am

I grow vegetables and herbs, and I have been around plants long enough to have both confidence and humility. I am a certified horticultural tradesperson, and I have stewarded a tropical plant commercial greenhouse, which taught me that plants notice everything and forgive nothing.

I also ran a CSA farm for a time, supplying families with weekly baskets of seasonal produce. That experience taught me a lot, including many things not to do. If you have ever learned by doing, you know exactly what I mean.

My home garden is a mix of decorative spaces and food-growing beds. I garden in a Zone 5b/6a climate, with herbs, vegetables, an heirloom apple orchard that still needs help, plus nut trees, haskaps, raspberries, rhubarb, and sour cherries planted with the future in mind.

Why I am really here

I spent a lot of years in work that required constant responsibility for other people’s outcomes. It taught me many good things, but it also left me craving a different rhythm.

The garden gives me that rhythm back. It is a sanctuary, an experiment, and a conversation with soil, weather, the creatures who live nearby, and our Creator.

I do not believe in forcing nature to comply. I am far more interested in learning how to be like water: stop throwing myself against obstacles, look for the better path, and work with what wants to live here.

If you are wondering whether you belong here

If you are longing for a calmer, more grounded approach to gardening; if you want practical help without shame; if you want to grow food and also grow your confidence; if you would like the garden to feel like remembering instead of proving, then yes. You belong here.

You do not need experience to begin. You do not need perfect timing, perfect soil, perfect space, or perfect confidence. Curiosity is enough. Noticing is enough. Imperfect beginnings are more than enough.

A gentle note on safety

I share preservation methods, recipes, and techniques, but please use your own due diligence for food safety. When in doubt, consult reliable food safety sources for your region and choose the cautious path. The goal is peace of mind, not mysterious jars.

Start small

If you are new here, start with the posts that feel like a small exhale. You do not need to overhaul your whole life to begin. One bed. One herb pot. One tray of seedlings under a light. One small proof that life wants to live.

I am glad you are here.