Nothing grows here

& how something grew anyway

It’s been four years since the seller of my home, at closing, said nothing grows here. Nothing will grow in this dirt, she said—slim along the front windows and door and creeping down the side of the brick.

Nothing except a couple of berry bushes in the back, three hydrangea the deer chew back, and a horseradish plant that won’t die on the corner stone. She asked if she could pick up the berry bushes that weekend. I didn’t see her arrive and dig them out, but I had agreed.

Now, there’s life everywhere. Coming out of the soil which has expanded out from the walls of the house and down the hillside. There are Jacob’s ladders and brown-eyed Susans, tomatoes, echinacea, oregano, mint, lemongrass, okra. A mix of native and migrant plants. It doesn’t hurt that I live with the son of a farmer.

My neighbor has transformed her yard beside us since she moved in a year or so before me. Year after year, more and more has grown. And with the shift in the landscape, animals have returned as well—fireflies, butterflies, hummingbirds, owls.

I think when the seller told me nothing would grow, I was disheartened. I always imagined having a garden. But I figured there was no harm in trying anyway. Because it’s usually a mistake to listen when someone else tells you what is possible.

And, selfishly, the feeling of quietly proving someone wrong is a satisfying one. What’s something someone told you wasn’t possible where you found possibility anyway?

---

What I’m loving right now:

• Deciphering Emily Dickinson’s Notes by Jillian Hess (Substack)

• The Ethereal Gain by Suleika Jaouad (Substack) Because by some lovely twist of fate all of my favorites are writing about my favorite, Emily Dickinson, this week.

• To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness by Robin Costa Lewis (poetry)

• The Vigil by Suleika Jaouad (Substack)

• The Crowded Room on Apple TV (major trigger warnings: trauma, abuse & mental health)

• Wild Birds Unlimited (specifically our hot pepper seed bell that keeps the squirrel and deer away, thanks mom!)