Mutant Chard and Joy

It’s over a year old – yep, chard from last year. It’s in its second year of life. Heck. How does that happen?

I’ll tell you a little story. So for those of you who raise animals, you obviously know how to cull a herd. That’s normal. And people who have gardened before, know that you thin out your seeds or starts and things like that as you’re growing your plants.

Now you bring my husband into the mix. So it was super exciting. The neat part about this plant species is that it lived through the entire winter, which has been one of our coldest, in our compost bin! It sat there all winter and it was fine.

My husband pulled it out this spring when he was turning over the compost. He’s like, “Oh this thing has new roots and new shoots coming out of it.” Mind you, see the base of this coffee mug. That is the size of the massive center root of this plant. So to humor him, he’s like, oh, I’m going to plant it.

This probably means the plant is going to get tough. It’s going to be harder to eat, a lot more chewy, not the best flavor. But it’s his little pet in the garden and it’s super fun. He has a hard time letting go of this growth of freshness. You know, like a lot of us, we have had a massive amount of upheaval with the pandemic. So why take away the joy of the Mutant Chard when it just brings a little bit of happiness?

So what makes you happy? Like, think about it, Sustainability isn’t just about things and putting together your garden and having food on hand and stuff like that. It’s about a lifestyle.

I choose this lifestyle. It makes us happy as a family, you know, it makes our life richer. What makes your life richer? What can you do right now to make joy to your life?