Dear MOTHER
Organic Encouragement
I just want to express that I found the article “Unpacking ‘Organic’ ” (October/November 2021) quite insightful. The word “organic” can be ambiguous, and I found it helpful to hear different perspectives on what it means from people who are deeply immersed in gardening. I found that it has a richer, deeper meaning among the gardeners interviewed that goes beyond the generic label we as consumers hold in high esteem. I also took away that gardening is truly a learning process, and there’s no one-sizefits-all approach. “We should strive to grow gardeners, not just gardens,” according to the author. With those words of encouragement, I’ve been contemplating trying out container gardening on my roof in Brooklyn, New York City. I’ve never grown anything in my life!
Jack
Brooklyn, New York
Shed Solutions
Several years ago, my husband, Don, saw an ad on Craigslist for an old barn that was free to whoever would come and take it down. He bought a trailer and spent a few weeks disassembling the barn piece by piece, salvaging as much as he could. He then built us what was intended to be a garden toolshed in 2013 using the reclaimed beams, flooring, siding, and tin roofing. The colors and design were inspired by photos of historic homes and outbuildings taken near my greatgrandfather’s ancestral home on the Swedishspeaking coast of Finland.
The next year, we decided to raise chickens. We fitted the back one-third of the garden shed with a wire divider wall,
