Selby Gunter

I was lucky enough to grow up on six acres of land in Oregon. Although I was surrounded by plants and nature it was not until I moved to a small island in the pacific ocean that I began my interest in gardening.

As an environmental education volunteer in Fiji I got to do a variety of amazing things but one thing I learned then, that I still use today, was how to compost. In my small village overlooking the ocean, I learned to grow fruits and vegetables, compost household waste and be flexible when trying new things.

Upon my return to the United States I had a far deeper understanding of how food impacts our health and the environment. This led me to become very interested in vegetable gardening, small scale food production, permaculture and food forests.

While living in Seattle I finally got a small garden to call my own and began experimenting. From the realm of food forests and permaculture I planted blueberry bushes and an apple tree. For vegetables I have tried everything from broccoli to zucchini. Sometimes I succeeded and sometimes I didn’t, but almost every day I learned something new in my garden.

A few years ago I upgraded to an even bigger yard and garden space which allowed for even more experimenting. It also came with a teaching opportunity as I began to garden with my daughter. I believe teaching kids to garden is an amazing way to connect them to their food, the environment and themselves.

Kids will enthusiastically eat vegetables they grew themselves. So much so that most of our sugar snap peas, carrots and radishes never make it into the house!

I now use my writing to encourage other people to grow things. I have also softened slightly in my vegetable obsession and now embrace the beautiful possibilities of flowers.