About me:
I’m Stacy Brewer, city-dwelling teacher by day, organic gardener by night/any spare minute, trying to grow as much food as possible on my modest 4,000 square foot Seattle lot in the Maple Leaf neighborhood. This blog was formally called Growing Green.
I am a doer. I have a vivid imagination and crazy internal motivation to bring my ideas to fruition. I sometimes have trouble sleeping because my mind just won’t quit. I started jotting ideas down in a notebook thinking that may help, but I’m still a restless sleeper. I’m working on that. I jump out of bed with boundless energy. I don’t drink coffee. Strange, I know. I get really excited about things and go full-throttle – totally immersing myself in whatever new passion it may be. And then, about one or two years later, I get bored and move on to the latest thing that is inspiring me. Except, of course, for a few activities (a-hem, like the things I write about on this blog).
This blog is proof of that very description. I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, got all fired up about what I learned from that book, and was driven by that passion to make some huge life changes that I still live by today. I started going to the farmers’ market to supplement my bounty and stopped buying processed food. If I can make it from scratch, I don’t buy it. I’ve been baking a loaf of bread just about every weekend since I started living this intentional food life. I started raising chickens for eggs and I like to give them old biddy names and names that were inspired by the Muppets. And yes, someday I’ll eat them too. I’ve never killed anything in my life – never hunted, never fished, but I’ve made a pact with myself that one day, I will learn how to humanely slaughter and clean them myself. And if I find that I can’t, I’ll be a vegetarian again.
My mom majored in Home Ec. Yes, that was a major once. She was a working mother, but she had some serious homemaking skills. And I’m just now realizing what an amazing influence that had on my life and how I now spend my time. Thanks to her, I know how to sew a straight line and really don’t have to think too hard about how to throw together a pillow or some curtains. I bake. When I was in college, I spent some Christmas money on a Kitchenaid of my own, one of her most trusted tools. It’s classic white, just like hers. My mom took a lot of pride in her decorating style. Her favorite was a southwest theme. You know, mauve, taupe, coyote silhouettes. We lived in Arizona, after all. We differ in style here, but the way things were put together is the same – attention to detail and coordination. This was so frustrating as an adolescent. Especially on big cleaning days, my sister and I would grumble, “Mom! We don’t live in a model home! Geez!” I get it now. I am so that way.
My artistic nature and sense of color, now that comes from my dad. When I was three, I won a $50 savings bond for a picture I drew of stick people. I earned more money from winning coloring contests than I ever did from allowance. The $10 contests were always the easiest. I remember, four years old, sitting at the kitchen table diligently working on a coloring contest drawing of Santa in a living room. My dad, with his hot rod style roots, taught me to color in the flames in the chimney so they blended from yellow to orange to red. I think glueing the little piece of cotton onto the end of Santa’s hat was my idea though. I nailed that win. I remember being a bossy kindergartener, teaching my classmates to color inside the lines. I wonder what a therapist would say about that. It is with that kind of reckless abandon that I approach the world. I like organized chaos. That’s probably why I’m a square foot gardener. I’m good at growing food inside the lines.
I didn’t grow up in a stay-at-home parent family and since I was the oldest child, I naturally fell into the role of second mother and homemaker. I cooked and cleaned and made sure my little sister did her homework, even though she totally resented me for it at the time. And somehow, even though I was thrust into that role at an early age, I still love the craft of homemaking and wholeheartedly embrace it. I’m still amazed by that. I think the instability that I sometimes felt growing up and the fact that we moved so much caused me to want to plant some roots and see them grow. I’m starting to understand that that’s probably why I took a risk and bought a house so young (I was 24 at the time), not just because I was working for a real estate agent, as I tell people. I have a nagging instinct to create a warm and cozy place that I can retreat to, a home. I will have owned my home for nine years in November and as I recently told someone who is about to embark on his own homeowner’s journey, there is nothing more kick ass than being able to use a saw or a drill to complete your own home improvement project. And there’s no better way to learn patience than by slowly, but surely transforming your space into a place you’d like to be.
I started this blog to keep track of my progress (challenges and successes) and transformation into an enthusiastic foodie, a more experienced and confident cook, and urban “farmer.” Thank you for being here. Knowing you’re reading makes my life even more inspired!
Love,
Stacy
Other tidbits you might like to know:
In March 2010, I graduated from the Master Gardener program, but after completing over 70 hours of community service hours as an intern, I decided to retire from the program. I’m now exploring new ways to give back to the community.
I’m an artist too, so don’t be surprised if I post about my latest crafty project. You can check out my artwork by visiting my shop on Etsy, Pieced Together Mosaic. Or check out this post about my biggest mosaic project yet.
You can also check out my You Tube channel for tutorials and videos of my urban farm.
These amazing photos were taken by Jenn Ireland. You should check out her blog too (and her post about our photo shoot).
