“Work smarter, not harder” my dad always said growing up, though I didn’t really hear him until now. He repeated these four words faithfully as we worked in the garden and orchards. Just as faithfully, we ignored him. I’m sure my siblings and I didn’t mean to tune Dad out when he gave us this instruction —it was just another of those parent-isms that kids pay no attention to like “shut the door” or “quiet down” or “be careful” or “eat your dinner.” Repetitive instructions, I’m convinced, are only effective in providing the comfort of consistency to children; reassuring reminders that our parents are indeed alive and well and looking out for us.
It wasn’t until adulthood that the true meaning of this creed, “work smarter, not harder,” began to dawn on me. Since moving up onto this mountain homestead of ours, I’ve found myself repeating this phrase to myself at an alarming and ever-increasing frequency whenever I am fiddling with some dirt-caked problem or other . . . so basically all the time. The words have even startled me as they have involuntarily issued from me and descended onto the tuned-out heads of my own kids! Is this a freaky side effect of being in your thirties, or what?
In truth, “work smarter, not harder” has been increasing in frequency and volume at such a rate that I’ve become nearly obsessive about finding ways to hack the homestead. Every time I settle down for a task which I know is going to be grueling or time-sucking or both I’ve begun squinting my eyes the way I do when facing a Sudoku puzzle and asking myself “is there a more efficient way to get this done?” Often the answer is no. You do have to rake those weeds; a blow torch just postpones the inevitable. Yes, you do have to carry those seed trays outside in the morning and inside again at night day in and day out until you build that greenhouse.
But nearly just as often, a previously unforeseen solution pops up like one of the thousands of grasshoppers hatching out on the lawns. These moments for me are becoming internal triumphs, reflecting all the glorious, external hallelujahs of the homestead.
Working smarter, it turns out, is every bit as thrilling as a cloudburst framed in sunshine, a swarm of rush-hour hummingbirds, or a bumblebee tucking herself into the coverlet of a marigold just as the yellow sun winks her dissolve into the shadows of forest.
This month of May here on our Montana homestead has seen a celebration of shortcuts that have had me on an absolute gardening high. Among these, one commonality has revealed itself: self-sufficiency is by far inferior not to mention far more lonely than homesteading among a community of self-starters. These past two weeks, I have planted more than four crates worth of perennial produce into the garden, all of which I received free from lovely gardening friends who were merely happy to be rid of some of their abundance! I’ve saved at least a few hundred dollars on plants in just a few weeks’ time and gained along with these gorgeous, fluffy green freebies the amazing comradery of a flourishing gardening community.
A new friend was made digging up strawberry crowns in a frigid Montana rain. A swap of seedlings and sourdough starters in a parking lot led to an impromptu masterclass on all things gardening and permaculture. Plant by plant, our garden is becoming a living, breathing collection of friendships. Each lovely face of a new green-thumb friend shines out of the rainbow mist as I water stolen rhubarb and weed rows of adopted alliums.
So, my friends, rather than planting yet another tray of seeds or coughing up another hundred bucks at the garden center, might you send out a text message or post on social media a simple shout out? “Anyone have strawberry plants? I’ve got herbs to trade.” You may be surprised what comes out of simply reaching out, the least of which I can almost guarantee will be the plants you carry home.
TEN PLANTS TO STEAL FROM GREEN-THUMB FRIENDS
Work smarter, play harder, and grow closer by nabbing some of the following plants from friends and neighbors! I bet they’ll love you for it.
1.) ASPARAGUS
Few things are as enchanting as watching the first asparagus spears of spring rise up out of the warming soil. Witnessing the magisterial beauty of these shoots, one would expect asparagus to be a high-maintenance plant requiring careful cultivation. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Asparagus may be an elegant and usually expensive side dish, but plant it once in your garden and you’ll forever have a feathery thicket of the world’s most delicious vegetable! This cruciferous dream is not only extremely healthy for the body, fresh from the garden it inspired the discovery of an entire new flavor which the Japanese named “umami” meaning “delicious, savory taste.” And anyone who’s eaten homegrown asparagus freshly plucked from the garden would agree. Most staggering of all, this deliciousness is positively invasive and can claim garden territory fast. Ratchet up the elegance of your family’s dinners, save more than a bundle, and make a friend’s day by stealing a bucketful of wispy starts from her garden.
2.) RHUBARB
This picture may not inspire a lot of confidence but take a closer look. A friend dug these rhubarb plants up after the melt and I plunged the lifeless bundles into our still half-frozen garden. Within just a few days, they began sending up fresh green leaves from what appeared to be their rotten cores. For me, this is one of those everyday gardening miracles that make rolling up my sleeves worth it.
Anyone who has tasted strawberry rhubarb pie might expect the heavenly flavor stewed within the layers of pastry to be of a nectar extracted from some rare, tropical fruit. The reality is almost absurd: a strange, alien-like mutation of celery and Swiss chard growing at an unbelievable rate, sending dark green leaves billowing out of nearly frozen soil. The thick, sinuous stalks of the rhubarb plant emerge in all directions, year after year, promising pie and happiness, which is redundant now that I think about it. Before you go to all the work of planting rhubarb seeds or purchasing expensive starts from a garden center, consider sending out a quick blast to see how many people you know who might have a few extra pie plants in their back gardens that are free for the taking!
3.) CHAMOMILE
A calming cup of chamomile before bedtime is a favorite of high-strung gals like myself the world over. And yet the way it grows, you’d never guess it would be so Zen under hot water.
Although not really perennial, at least not in my northern outpost, chamomile reseeds like a dream. Plant a single chamomile plant onto good soil and you’ll be raking a skirt of frilly green thumbprints around it every spring. Each one of these lacy sprouts has the promise of thousands of steaming cups of comfort which makes my soul sing at the thought. Sadly, nearly all of these beginnings end up in the compost bin. Every spring, I offer my friends as many chamomile starts as they will take and all I have to do in order to gift them years of steeps is to dig a trowel into the ground.
4.) MINT
Before you buy ten bucks worth of mint from the herb section of your local garden center, bear in mind that you probably have a friend or neighbor who is at this very minute tearing mint up by the fistfuls and throwing the lot of it onto a compost heap. Asking a friend for mint is basically offering to come weed a patch of her garden. And I’ll tell you, weeding never smelled so heavenly.
5.) STRAWBERRIES
If you know any gardeners, one of them is bound to have an out-of-control strawberry patch they’d love for you to take a whack at.
Digging up strawberries on the run is as simple as it is to replant them. Strawberries pull up easily, transplant like a dream, and then they reward us divinely for our efforts when topped with a dollop of whipped cream. And strawberries are as hardy and resilient as they are sweet. I replanted two crates worth of dug up strawberries in our back orchard and haven’t lost a single one even under a week of baking sun. When you consider that strawberry plants aren’t a cheap order, this frilled fruit-bearer may be crowned queen of plants to steal from your green-thumb friends.
6.) CHIVES
Have you ever spent five bucks on a plastic pouch of “fresh” chives from the produce department? After you grow chives for yourself, you’ll snort every time you pass the hanging wall of plastic-packed herbs. Chives are perennial beauties that come back fuller and more resilient every year. Not only that, but chives reseed around the garden. In other words, you’ll never want for chives again after you plant a few. And chances are that you know more than a handful of people who would happily let you dig up a handful of these zesty, young upstarts.
7.) YARROW
Purchasing a seven-dollar yarrow plant from a gardening center is a bit like paying your kid to make a wish on a dandelion over your lawn. Yarrow is a fabulous weed. It spreads like an incredible bout of smallpox with a host of health benefits to show for it. Once planted, yarrow growers are rewarded with huge landscaping bushes covered in clusters of white or multi-colored flowers that are beloved by bees, butterflies, and out-of-whack female hormones. Yarrow can be added to tea to help keep things in balance —eh-hem— or made into a poultice to stop bleeding. Yes, seriously. Little baby yarrows will also sprout up on all sides of the mother plant much like chamomile in the hopes of being dug up and passed on down the street to invade someone else’s life.
8.) RASPBERRIES
We bought raspberry plants two years in a row until we finally realized that spending fifty bucks on these fast-replicating, thorn-studded shoots is simply raspberries. A dear friend of mine and “gardening guru” to boot will hug me to come pull out as many runners as I can find room to plant. So, I get jam and hugs in one go. This one is a no-brainer; both the giver and the receiver of raspberry shoots will feel like they got the better end of the deal.
9.) EGYPTIAN WALKING ONIONS
What if there was a plant that was literally walking out of your friends’ gardens trying to find you? There is. Egyptian walking onions actually drop their tops in all directions and start tripping out as fast as their new bulbs can carry them. And since you can use the tops all spring as you would green onions and then eat the bulbs as you would regular onions, these Egyptian travelers are a fabulous addition to the garden that may only be a request away. I just planted these for the first time this spring, a bequeathment from my parents’ garden, and am so excited to watch them become bouquets of bulbs!
10.) SALVIA
It may not actually be edible, but salvia is certainly a feast for the eyes and an absolute banquet for all our pollinator pals! The blooms of salvia are long and deep, providing a huge color punch wherever you need them most. Plant it once and you’ll invest in a lifetime of color which reseeds itself to robe your garden’s summer in forever royalty. Any friend of mine is welcome to prick out as many salvia sprouts as her heart desires.
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Happy planting, happy saving, happy growing inside and out!
Thank you for reading, dear friends.
Love, ~Candace Arden
