My whole life, my parents have grown gardens. I always joked I didn’t inherit their green thumbs, but the reality was my New York/New Jersey abodes didn’t have yards, let alone room for a few planters - so I’d never really had a garden. When I purchased my house in Kansas City, I saw the potential in the (severely) overgrown backyard that hadn’t really been tended in years. Despite my vision, I was admittedly in way over my head, and it’s taken years for me to get around to caring for it. Now, I don’t know what took me so long - I’ve learned so many sweet lessons from my little garden.
Gardening helped me in some physical ways. As I inched out of depression, gardening tasks got me outside, and got my body moving on days I didn’t really want to. Slowly, it became something I looked forward to, rather than just another item on my to-do list. But really, it healed me in a number of less visible ways, too.
In the kitchen, I usually know what I’m doing - and there’s an ease and confidence that comes with that. Beginning to garden had me back in the beginner zone - but there’s been something wonderful about that. I don’t need to know everything, that it’s not only totally fine to figure it out as I go, and that I can take pleasure in learning new things (+ learning from my mistakes)!
Starting the garden has reminded me of the strength of my family and community - because so many folks have helped me or chipped in with it. My friends have helped weed, pick plants, and discuss next year’s plans. My parents have given lots of advice, planting help, and supervising things a bit when I’ve been out of town. And speaking of my travel - I worried about my garden so much while I was away. I tracked precipitation from afar, and had my brother checkin on things pretty much daily. And when I came home - it wasn’t perfect…but it was still really great. Sure, there was lots of things that needed to be done - but my absence hadn’t slowed things down. Flowers were blooming, the herbs had doubled in size, and there were even some tiny tomatoes appearing on their vines. Nature’s tough, and it got on just fine without me (so imagine what it will be able to do with my help)!
But mostly, it’s brought me joy - and daily joy, at that. It’s delightful to watch the progress of things as they grow. And as a lover of flowers, there is no end to the happiness that cutting a bouquet from my own yard brings me. Nearly every room in the house has a few buds - and I smile whenever I see them. Cosmos, zinnias, daisies, and bachelor’s buttons - I love them all. But my favorite are sunflowers (I am from the sunflower state, after all) - and I positively squealed when I saw my first homegrown sunflower blooming.
I needed a special recipe to remember this achievement - and that’s how these little sunflower hand pies were born. These are a lot of fun to make, and bursting with juicy blueberry filling, so they’re sure to be a hit to whoever you serve them to. See how they get their detailed shape below - and be sure to subscribe for the recipe! I’m already dreaming of next year’s garden - but I think I’ll plan to make these again next year, too - to commemorate my first sunflower bloom of 2027. 🌻
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