40-Year Garden
Gardening gives one back a sense of proportion about everything - except itself.
— May Sarton, Plant Dreaming Deep, 1968
The garden is growth and change and that means loss as well as constant new treasures to make up for a few disasters.
— May Sarton, Journal of a Solitude, 1973
For more than four decades, my mother-in-law Fritz has been gardening the same plot of land (approximately an 1/8 acre) behind her home in Boise, Idaho. Her children say they can hardly believe she maintained such a huge garden when she worked full time. Despite their protests to scale back the ambitious planting, each year the garden seems to expand. In the tremendous heat of late summer, even Fritz will admit she is overwhelmed by the work. Fortunately, my partner Stephanie shares her mother’s love of gardening and works alongside her. Fritz’s passion for gardening began at a young age. She won 4-H prizes for her vegetables and received a cultivator as an 8th grade graduation gift. She was born during the Depression, and her family valued the soil of their backyard garden. As a young girl, gardening was a way to please her mother by growing food for the family, as well as an escape from family tension. Today not only does this garden provide food for her family (and her lucky neighbors), but it also allows a space for meditation through the ritual of daily maintenance. It is clear that as Fritz, now in her mid 80s, grows older this garden provides a way to maintain her vitality. With the series “40-Year Garden” I am photographing a garden in all its seasons of transformation and the beauty of Fritz with her resilience and determination.
