Making Food Blog

I did not grow up farming, nor did I spend a lot of time caring for plants over the course of my life. In all honety, I never really considered myself much of a plant cultivator. I tried a few times in the past, but mother-in-law tongue is really the only plant I had ever kept alive for any length of time before.

My main stumbling block was always understanding when and how much to water plants. People would tell me to feel the soil or to give the plants “plenty” of water, but that never seemed to work out for me. My plants always seemed to die regardless of my earnestness and intention.

On a whim, I purchased a hydroponic kit after attending a farming 2-day short course (also on a whim). The hydroponic kit was very simple with spaces for four growing pods. I decided to try to grow Marigolds and Japanese Indigo. Mostly because I like marigolds, and I wanted to make blue die from the imdigo plant like I saw on a trip to Mexico.

I followed the instructions, charted everything meticulously, and monitored my progress daily. After about five days a few little green shoots began to sprout up. Within a few weeks, my plants were robust and drinking tons of water. I solved the mystery of knowing how much water to give my plants by simply monitoring the water level in the hydroponic tank and keeping it full every few days as the plants drank up. I must admit that I was shocked to see how much water these four plants drank every few days (about a half a liter every 3 days).

With the bolstered confidence, I soon bought more hydroponic systems and even transfered some of my plants to soil. Today, I’ve grown and eaten several plants in my apartment, and it has served to satiate my excitement as I wait for Farm School to start in February. However, one of the experieces from the last few months that was the most influential in transforming my personal belief in my abilitiy to grow and care for plants happened purely by accident.

As I mentioned, I decided to grow Japanese Indigo to create dye. The unfortunate thing is that despite watching some videos and asking some people, I have struggled to successfully create any kind of dye from the leaves of my plants. My fist failed attempt happened when I trimmed back my first two plants and submerged the leaves in water. I though it would take a few days for the leaves to ferment and give me the “mermaid” liquid. After a month passed, and I had to trim my plants again because they were growing passed the grow light, I still didn’t have anything that looked like dye happening.

I decided to put the second round of trimmings in a plastic ziploc bag while I gave the submerged leaves a bit more time to transform. After another month, nothing was happening still. It was finaly time to give up and clean up my failed experiement, but then I noticed that the clippings in the plastic bag had begun to root. The leaves were completely withered, but fresh roots had grown out of the stems in a desperate attempt to survive in the most unlikely conditions.

The Japanese Indigo wanted to live, so I planted it in soil. I watered the cuttings and put them under my grow light. Within a few days the plat had rejuvinated and begun to sprout new leaves. The plant had survived in a sealed plastic bag for a month and was once again thriving in a new situation.

I take a lot of inspiration from that plant because it showed me that plants are not as delicate as I often think of them. They are resiliant, and they can even express the will to survive in an incredibly unlikely situation. Even when there is no certainty of opportunity, the plant still persisted. That’s how a simple little indigo plant gave me the confidence to believe I can grow things even after making mistakes along the way. That little plant also reminded me that persistance in the face of uncertainty can lead to new growth, and new growth can prepare one to flourish when opportunity comes.