My interest in growing food started during the snowy winter of 2008, when I was in the throes of an environmentalist’s nightmare, unable to deal with all of the horrible things I was being taught about in school. I was so depressed that I couldn’t even take action to do something about the problems that were depressing me.

During that time, I came across the African proverb, “When you pray, move your feet.” I’m not a praying person, at least not in the conventional sense, but I did take to heart the message I interpreted from the proverb: if you want something, don’t just sit there, wishing – do something about it. I realized that I was no better than people who have no education about environmental issues, in terms of trying to live in a less impactful way, because I was too busy crying about how much humans are messing everything up.

I chose a focus, to be my area of expertise and passion. Food was the obvious choice for me, since I love eating, as a source of pleasure and health, and as a venue for building relationships and community. I also had interest in agriculture, possibly from my 4 years living in the country in California.

At the time, I was volunteering with Seattle Tilth. According to their website, “Seattle Tilth is a nationally recognized non-profit educational organization dedicated to inspiring and educating people to garden organically and conserve natural resources.” I now intern for Seattle Tilth, as a Garden Steward for the annual vegetables in the adult demonstration garden at the Good Shepherd Center.