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Amber Karnes's avatar

Here for the unedited dumb personal shit writing and revival of the personal blog! The part about kicking the vagus nerve made me laugh out loud :)

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Katie's avatar

I live in Florida and my yard is a blazing inferno of full and merciless sun and my dirt is a woeful mix of sand and clay so I can relate to your soil woes. Fellow container gardener here, can't wait to follow along!

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Lesley Kinzel's avatar

Haha, thank you. I believe in you! Your plants will not be incinerated!

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M. Bennett's avatar

"...because I miss writing dumb personal shit on a regular basis."

I, too, miss writing dumb personal shit. I have be reminiscing about ye olde online diary days as of late, although in reality I know that I wouldn't really want to go back to all that mess. However, because I live very far away from most of the people I know now and also because social media has proven to be a failed experiment in human connection, I am looking for something that gives the people who want it a less curated glimpse into my personal life, with the hope that they reciprocate to some degree. This feels like the moment for it. I think I've settled on a personal mailing list for now, and that could become something more public later. (I moved out of the US with my husband a few years ago, and the curiosity about that experience is very piqued at the moment.)

Anyway, I look forward to reading more in the Slapdash Manor series, and I hope your home remains mite-free as you get to watch that nest come to life.

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Lesley Kinzel's avatar

Thank you! And yes, a friend and I were opining recently that we need to reinvent the personal blog. So many of us are being driven off social media and yet we still want to connect about our lives.

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Dana's avatar

I am also renting an apartment with a balcony that is almost completely covered in shade due to a huge tree! And while never my market is never really reasonable, I am currently being screwed out of housing dreams by sudden job insecurity due to the govt being on fire. I'm disappointed for us both.

When I first tried to garden 3 years ago I did all the fun/cool stuff I had imagined (tomatoes, peppers, etc) and not a damn bit grew beyond the vine. This year I'm trying the reasonable stuff like kale, carrots and snap peas, so fingers crossed any of it grows since apparently buying vegetables from the super market without getting incredibly ill might be a thing of the past.

I enjoy anything you're happy to write about, but I do admit this is very personally relevant even though I've never pickled anything.

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Lesley Kinzel's avatar

I have had this experience too, of aiming high and having the difficult realization that my backyard options are limited and I need to accept that no, I'm not going to get beautiful plump heirloom tomatoes out of this tragic landscape. I'll definitely talk more about the weird things that do seem to grow well for me.

And oh my gosh do not get me started on the food safety thing, it makes me so furious that such a basic need is under fire?!

Also, I'm gonna make you want to pickle something!! I'm making this a goal!

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laurajeanorama's avatar

My old next door neighbors had a grey market parakeet farm in their backyard, and would dump the bird trash in a trash can that butted up to my house. We got infested with bird mites and it took the better part of 6 months to get rid of them. Trust me, you do not want this shit.

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Gabrielle Kern's avatar

We have all our windowsills filled with starts that my partner will take to grow in someone else’s yard! I’ve been on a list for a garden plot for years! If it wasn’t for poly we’d never get a darn thing grown here. Plantamours are almost as good as petamours.

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