Growing Again

May 6 2026

In high school, I had a year or so where everything I ate made my stomach hurt and contort. It led me down some bizarre dietary paths as I tried to find the foods that my body was happy with. White rice and chicken felt fine, so I did that for a while. I tried being vegan, and also paleo, I think, in the same year.

Eventually, I did something resembling an elimination diet, a process of removing all allergens and irritants for a few weeks before slowly adding them back in one by one to see what your body likes and what it doesn’t. The results were inconclusive. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason. In retrospect, I think I was just having anxiety.

In a lot of ways, last year felt like an elimination diet, but for my life. Not so much about removing specific things forever, but about shaking everything up enough to finally notice what actually makes me feel good. I moved houses and states and upheaved everything, starting over not quite from scratch but certainly in a much different kitchen.

This year has been about taking inventory of what actually makes me feel good.

A couple of months ago, I took a bath on vacation and realized how much I had missed my weekly Epsom salt bath ritual. My muscles were soft, my mind was clear, and I had forgotten how much I needed that feeling. Since my new home doesn’t have a tub, it’s been added to my future renovation plans.

I recently began thinking about how I wanted to use my backyard. What would make me happiest?

I scanned my mind for all of my favorite memories from backyards of the past. The old New Orleans house, the Tennessee homestead, the tiny balcony of an apartment before COVID. My favorite memories all included planting and harvesting and watering vegetable gardens. It’s always been my thing. And in this new chapter, I hadn’t yet done the work to make a garden happen. It sounded daunting, but I knew it would be worth the effort.

I found cute enough, sturdy metal garden beds online. I ordered a soil delivery from a local hardscaping yard and spent a few afternoons and evenings putting the beds together and hauling soil into them. A friend and I spent this past weekend shopping for plants, seedlings, and herbs to fill the beds with, and now I have a vegetable garden!

We planted tomatoes, lots of peppers, probably too much eggplant, cucumbers, fennel, okra, several herbs, and shiso. The other evening, I was watering it all after the last of the sunlight died down and felt so grounded and at peace.

I am growing again! What a gift. It feels like I just fit another puzzle piece into the life I’m building.

Maybe my new garden will inspire a recipe or two to share with you this summer.

Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll see you next week!

xoxo
Beau