I just wanted to take a little moment to give you a little background on WILD THING...
I have always been fascinated by creatures and plants and rocks and such. Growing up in the city, my contact with nature was mostly through little ants on the sidewalk, bugs in the park , and other plants and critters in my parents’ community garden plot during the school year. My parents are from out West, and we would camp our way across the country every couple years to visit family. One year when we drove up to the Yukon to visit my great uncle, my sister Alex and I made a little wildflower bouquet stand. We ran around picking tiny boreal blooms and tying them in bunches with little strands of grass. I remember the sheer glee of the hot summer sun and the amazed wonder I felt when little ice pellets started falling from the sky in summer. It was the first time I had ever seen hail. Alex and I were perhaps not the savviest of business ladies, (as we had optimistically set up a stand on a dirt road that I think only 2 or 3 other people lived on) but we had a wonderful time discovering and collecting the lovely little plant bits. We happily played at our little flower stand until our mum realised that it was waaaaaay past our bed time and we headed off to sleep under the midnight sun.
I have many memories of freely exploring the great outdoors, and for that I am very thankful to my parents.
I started my first garden of my own in front of the triplex I grew up in on Waverly in Montreal. Our landlady had passed away and her husband was no longer healthy enough to tend the garden on his own. I asked him if I could grow in it and fortunately for me he most graciously accepted. I am a voracious reader of how-to books and am a fairly quick learner, so took up starting things from seed that first year. I have happily grown and tended to many vegetables, fruit and flowers every year since.
Five years ago, my parents bought an old church in the Eastern Townships and I immediately started plotting out how to turn as much of that green lawn into lush productive garden space.
Fast forward to today, a good share of my plotting has become reality. We now have approximately 2000 sq ft of growing beds at the home lot and another parcel at a friend’s place in the village.
A couple years ago I was having a discussion with my friend Vicki who had just opened a flower shop. She was wondering where she could get local organic product for her shop. I knew of only 2 such growers at the time, so offered to grow a couple beds as a test for her. This is when WILD THING ferme florale started taking shape. This year I have inversed my crop proportions and I am mostly growing flowers, with a few veggies popped in here and there to make sure I remember to eat a little as I am working.
It took me a while to figure out a name. I didn’t know what to call my little farm initially. One night as I was sitting in the kitchen with my roommate (who also happens to be one of my best friends) WILD THING popped into my head. It made me so happy as soon as I said it!
There is something about the words ‘’wild thing’’ that just felt right. WILD THING to me is an embodiment of a spirit that is free to do as it will. Following what it loves and makes it happy. Reaching for whatever makes it feel whole. Somehow, to me, those words capture that part of me that is still a little girl running barefoot down the pavement, drenched from the rain, mud on my face, exuberantly joyful after an extended session of worm hunting with my friends.
What little WILD THING moments do you remember and cherish?
Everyone has a little wild thing in them somewhere:)
