Beyond the Bounty

Here on Bainbridge Island, gardening season is upon us—and I couldn’t be happier to usher it in. Daffodils bloom like sunshine outside my window, and tomorrow is the big day when I start cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes (and, with much less enthusiasm, my tax returns). So it was particularly exciting to open my mailbox yesterday and find the premier issue of Tideland magazine inside, featuring my gardening essay, “Beyond the Bounty.”

I’m proud to be a contributor to this new quarterly publication, which celebrates the vibrant communities, creativity, and natural beauty of West Puget Sound. Tideland’s editors, Leif Utne and Alorie Gilbert, are committed to storytelling that builds connections and highlights the rich diversity of this region, human and wild.

The first issue includes articles about a local and legendary African American civil rights activist, tribal efforts to preserve salmon habitat, and the 80-year anniversary of “The Exclusion” of Japanese-American men, women, and children from Bainbridge Island because these respected community members were deemed a threat to national security (“Let It Not Happen Again.”)

Some other topics: wild swimming in Puget Sound, sustainable housing, restaurants and events…and my musings on why we garden.

Here’s a brief excerpt:

On our woodsy Bainbridge road, we have a community farmstand. The stand is business casual, with rough-hewn posts, a cheerfully painted chair, and welcoming words on an oversize whiteboard. Lemon yellow letters promote Flowers to passersby, who might also get lucky and find Fresh Eggs for Sale. Spring is my favorite season to stop by and take a gander, so I can survey young seedlings in need of a bed. Last May, one plant in particular called out my name—an heirloom tomato, pot-stressed and leggy. “What’s one more tomato?” I asked myself sheepishly, dropping a few crumpled dollars into the box.

You can view my essay by clicking the following button, or flip through the entire digital magazine here. Meanwhile, please harvest some visual sustenance from last year’s bounty, below.