It All Started With A Tomato

A few months before the world shut down, I saw a video on Facebook (or maybe it was Instagram), on growing tomatoes by slicing up a store-bought tomato and simply planting the slices in a pot. I happened to have an overripe tomato in the kitchen so I gave it a go.

I found some old soil in the cabinet in the backyard, hosed out a web-filled pot, and planted a couple of seed-filled tomato slices. With the exception of my money tree which lived for a little over 13 years, I have killed pretty much every plant I have been responsible for. So after a couple of weeks, I found myself with a bunch of 1"-2" seedlings in a small 5-gallon pot.

I found myself excited to go out to check on them first thing each morning and each night before going to bed. I decided to do a little research, separated the seedlings into other larger pots I found hidden around the yard, and found myself "mom" to 5 tomato plants. At the time, I had no intention of going any further with growing anything after these 5 plants.

My husband, on the other hand, watched me with these tomatoes and came home from Home Depot one day with a handcart FULL of soil, pots, a knee pad, a watering can, seed trays, seeds, and plants. I looked at him like he was nuts and for about a week, that handcart sat there untouched. I would go out and water the seedlings and plants, but my tomatoes were my focus.

Then one Saturday, I woke up, got dressed, and spent the ENTIRE day in the yard, taking care of my new plants, starting seeds, and clearing areas in the yard for me to grow. I decided I wanted to challenge myself to grow at least 50% of our produce. Shortly after, we were on lockdown, we couldn't find onions or squash, in any of our local grocery stores, and my gardening became even more important to me.

Now I grew up, spending summers on a farm in Upstate New York. We had a farm hand that planted the crops and we subsidized a couple of the fields to a local farmer to grow Beans and corn, so I was never on the planting side, but we loved to go in the garden and pick a tomato, or go out in the field and grab an ear of Silver Queen Corn (which I now grow on a much smaller scale) right off the stalk.

We also had meat Turkeys and Chickens, mostly for eggs but occasionally for meat. We also had a large pond stocked with Bass, Perch, and Catfish. My grandfather and I would spend hours in the paddle boat or on the dock with our lines in the water.

Over the 2 years we were locked down here in Los Angeles, Encino to be exact, I discovered the Gardners and Homesteaders of Social Media. I kick myself now for not documenting my entire journey, but as Cheech says in Ghostbusters, better late than never.

So next month, we leave California and move back to Las Vegas, this time on an acre. After over a year of searching and I don't know how many houses we looked at, we ended up making an offer on a home we hadn't seen at least not yet in person. But that is a story for another time.

Here we are, moving to an acre in Centennial Hills in 19 days. I get to have chickens, turkeys, a milk cow, milk goats, and maybe a horse or two. I have set a goal to grow 100% of our produce and with this house, we already have so many fruit and nut trees as well as herbs growing, not to mention multiple beds, boxes, greenhouses, and tunnels.

Originally, the plan was to find a 5-acre lot in Vegas and build our dream home and homestead. Unfortunately, there is currently an 18-month wait time to even start digging, so we had to shift gears. We were determined to be able to have chickens and a milk cow from the start.

I don't know what my end game is with this. I definitely have ideas of what I'd like to do. I do plan on making my own butter and buttermilk, having bees for honey and wax, and getting much more sufficient. I don't really want to peddle my wares or create product lines, I'd rather teach people how to do the things they want to do, maybe help set up some community gardens, and just make videos to share.

I am finding that I want to slow down and enjoy things more. Let go of some of the pressure. I think I would be a train wreck worrying if people were enjoying my butter or my cheese. There are so many great products out there I would much rather be an affiliate than create my own product to compete unless my product truly brought significant value above and beyond anything currently on the market.

Time will tell. I hope some of you will join me on this adventure. Please, share your thoughts and experience, if you have any.

19 days, and it all started with a tomato. -T