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Over the past few weeks, I've shared information about and produce from my backyard garden with neighbors, students, and coworkers. Many of them seem flabbergasted that I successfully coaxed fruits out of the parched desert environment, and they all seem pleasantly surprised at the taste of said produce. At their request, I will be creating a series of videos over the next month showing what I did, why, how, and what fruits result from it. I will warn you that my backyard isn't pretty; it looks like a chaotic mess. However, when you consider the fact that I have neighbors who don't try, don't succeed, or don't like gardening, the fact that they think I have a green thumb speaks volumes.

Part of my motivation for this is personal. I feel a great sense of satisfaction eating things I grew out of my own back yard. Additionally, I studied Biochemistry in graduate school in a plant physiology laboratory that considered the effects of drought and salt stress on fruit crops, so I feel the need to validate myself as an authority by having a productive garden in the desert southwest. One of my greatest accomplishments in life is the house and yard. I showed my backyard video to some students last night who expressed interest in seeing the garden, and they seemed very impressed with the house, the landscaping, and the work that went into building the garden. Even though in 2015 many of the plants currently in the ground are noticeably absent from that video, they still couldn't believe that I built a beautiful and successful garden. Some of them assumed i live in a special place; in fact, I think my neighborhood is among the poorest spots of ground, but I digress. My garden is the one place where I reap what I sow.

Part of my motivation for this is revelatory. The earliest age at which I recollect church leaders admonishing us to plant a garden and grow our own food where possible was when I was eight years old. Since then, my parents always tried to have some sort of garden, and although it never fed us on its own and we never really planted it to that end, it did feed me with other lessons, with an awe and respect for living things, and with an appreciation for home-grown food and home-cooked meals. There is nothing tastier than a home-grown tomato! Although they stopped talking about it in the higher echelons of the church, my local congregation has rededicated itself to teaching self-reliance and emergency preparedness, and so there is a rising interest in, focus on, and yearning for back yard gardens. In the Vegas desert, this is challenging, but I remember the promise of Elijah that if we follow God's counsel, the cruse of oil and barrel of meal shall not waste until the famine subsides.

Part of my motivation is educational. People worldwide seem interested in returning to some pastoral roots and having access to "organic" and "natural" foods. Most of what they pay for at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and similar stores is a farce, but I do teach my students that the shorter the distance from garden to table the better your food usually is. Commercial crops are grown, not for taste or nutritional content but for yield and for shelf life. Consequently, I am allergic to commercial nightshade plants (eggplant, tomato, bell pepper, etc.), but heirloom varieties don't bother me nearly as much. I am an educator, and so I'm going to do this in order to leave the world a bit better, through a garden plot. Even for those whose spirit is willing but flesh is weak, I will teach them that there are legitimate excuses; I do actually tend my garden at least five days per week. I know that if I ignore it, problems in the desert quickly blow far out of control and plants can die in days from neglect or exposure. There are things I know, things I did, and things I would change, and if they can help other people achieve the pleasure and enjoyment I derive from a garden, I'm happy to share my expertise with them. People make time for things that really matter, and I know this matters to me because I make time for it morning and night.

I'm not intending to or purporting to be an internet star. This isn't really to get viewers, subscribers, or money. If people want to pay me, I won't say no, but really, when you are passionate about something the compensation comes from other sources than the bank. I don't have great and sophisticated equipment, a crew, or writers. I'll just show you what I did and how I did it. You may disagree or do things differently. I might too if I were starting over from scratch. The best thing for me is that what I did actually worked. Monday morning when I saw the first cotyledons from cantelope seeds I discarded in the garden a week prior emerge from the soil, I got excited to see new life emerge from germinated seeds I threw there. I like the variety, the feel of my yard, and the cooling sensation it imparts to my house. Best of all, all these plants cost me only $5 in additional water consumption over my previous water bills. The real cost is my time, but I have the time, and I laugh sometimes when I'm more interested in getting home to tend the garden than hang out with a hot woman; I know the garden will be worth the work.