Q: Do you have a garden? Have you ever grown your own food?

A: I have often gardened, although I have never been a great success. Moving every few years, raising kids, and teaching school made it hard to find the time and energy. We got lucky a few times. We moved into one house in Western Oregon with well-established and highly productive raspberries. When the kids were young, we planted peas and beans in Western Washington and learned to battle slugs every morning. Now that I have an empty nest, we are living in my husband’s family home and benefit from well-established blueberry bushes. We compete with the birds for those. I am still trying to grow peas and beans, but now have to keep away the deer and wild rabbits. We also grew a wide variety of squash this year. My husband is a wonderful cook and we’ve been enjoying baked squash and squash soup.

Susan McDonough-Wachtman’s story “I Will Go Gently” will be
published on Friday, 14 December 2018.
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