An Introduction

Let me introduce you to The Yardeners:

This is Krizby.

In terms of dedication, this girl ranks thirteen on a scale of one to ten. She told me the other day that, if it comes to it and everyone bails, she will weed the garden by herself. Blindfolded. With her teeth. She brings almost two years of gardening experience to the team, having grown flowers in a window box outside of her terrace.

She takes pictures.

This is Jerry.

He claims to have gardened before, and shows much promise. He is the shovel master and can weed even the smallest blade of grass from in between delicate lettuce leafs with deft proficiency. Jerry is currently using his skills elsewhere, but we are expecting his hours to jump quite a bit in about a month.

He has a girlfriend.

This is Rourous.

Having lived for years in Soviet Russia, this man can transform any physical object into the most useful of tools. After escaping the country, Rourous hid out in a toolshed and developed special "toolish" powers--becoming one with the other tools in the shed.

He is one of our most valuable Tools.

This is The Pooh.

Although very experienced in spreading fertilizer and mulch, The Pooh is our resident Realist. She keeps us out of the lofty skies above, and gets us to focus on ground-level (or should I say "garden-level") solutions. She most looks forward to the consumption of the Kale. She makes a wicked Brown-butter and Kale salad.

She is one of the few that participated in the Previous Garden.

This is Face.

Having grown up in France, she knows good food when she sees it. She has the uncanny ability to coax out only the best vegetables from the ground. I have seen her pacing the garden many an evening, reading Edna St. Vincent Millay to the seedlings.

She is my favorite.

This is Didi.

Most certainly the brains behind our endeavors, she puts the science into our Backyard Agriculture. Need to know which phase of the moon is best to plant beets in? Curious to know what to plant next to the broccoli? Didi's your girl. She regrets the fact that we are not growing any fruit in our garden, given that the apple is her favorite fruit.

She is looking forward to cooking the vegetables in a curry sauce.

This is Coy.

The youngest member of our group, Coy makes up for any lack of experience with "face time" with the garden. He is always there--some of us are not even sure if he goes home at night. Coy is an encourager and story-teller, and his words bring life to sore backs and aching muscles.

His tool of choice is the 12-pronged rake.

This is Bubba.

Having grown up in a family of gardeners (but never having ventured inside one until the age of 15), Bubba has the least experience in our group. We are hoping he surprises us with knowledge gained by osmosis. As an experienced musician, he has developed a hands-off approach and is the founder of "light touch" gardening.

He counts Nature as one of his best friends.