One of the tenets of Slow Food is growing your own food. My husband hates to mow grass, says it's inedible [at least he won't eat it] and in the beginning there was a lot to mow.
Once the grass in the front yard was removed using a grub hoe we prepared some beds with walkways in which to plant herbs the first year.
The next year I had towers for my beans [planted to enrich the soil] within the beds and had built an espaliered apple tree fence to enclose one side of the garden and a Belgian fence with pears and a quince on the other.
During the summer when I am out weeding or sitting in the shade of that big old spruce, people often stop and ask about growing trees on wires or why I plant that flower with that vegetable or just feel inclined to sit and talk and drink iced tisanes. And believe it or not, I also have enough room under those spreading boughs to pile a cord or more of wood to use in my cook stove this winter so I can continue my slow food lifestyle with soup simmering on the back and homemade bread fresh from the oven.
