Early on we took up residence in a nice house up in Shoreline, a familiar suburban neighborhood just north of Seattle. It was a quiet place to begin our family, included a plum and pear tree in the backyard, plus a solid fence to keep things safe for Andy to play outside.

We did start a somewhat smaller garden the year before, located on the south side of the house, and was tragically savaged by the local raccoons. So when Heather asked for a new garden, we planned one that might actually allow us to enjoy the bounty of our industrious efforts. For Mother’s day, together Andy and I constructed a basic 4×8 foot wood box, into which we dumped several heavy bags of soil, mixed with other fertilizing nutrients. As a special added bonus, we also built a chicken wire frame cage, that actually succeeded in keeping those nasty raccoons out of the garden.

As the growing season progressed, we had a problem with the garden quickly outgrowing the surrounding cage, so that plants soon became entangled in the wire, making the cover difficult to take off, if only just to pick our veggies.

This was the situation, which we did the best we could with for a few years, until finally we bought our new home in Edmonds. Once established and settled in, we then starting all over with our even larger and never cease to be interesting, super sized organic garden!

The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world.

— Michael Pollan