Hi I’m Quierra!
That’s pronounced key-air-ah if you’re curious. Since we’re friends now, feel free to call me Q. I’m so glad you’re here.
Welcome to The Grown Path, a cozy little spot online where we celebrate the kitchen garden and all it gives us. The feeling you get from growing food in your own backyard is absolutely amazing. Not to mention, things really do taste better!
Whether you’re starting your first garden, trying again for the second (…or fifth) time, or if you’ve had a few successful seasons under your belt, The Grown Path is here to give you practical tips and encouragement to keep your garden growing. So pull up a chair, get comfy, and stay a while.
Here you’ll get ideas for:
- growing food (and flowers) in the space you have
- what to do with all your harvests (by cooking & preserving it)
- And sharing the abundance with loved ones (with gifts and experiences)
I truly do believe that anyone can grow a garden. But that wasn’t always the case for me.
MY STORY
For most of my life I thought I was the kind of person who shouldn’t even look at a plant, let alone be in charge of keeping it alive. In fact, when my best friend and I lived together, I convinced her that we shouldn’t get any house plants because we would just be setting ourselves up for disappointment.
Years later my husband Andrew slowly changed my mind. What started as a couple potted flowers at our first apartment (which all died because we got zero sun on that patio), turned into trying again with a dahlia and a cherry tomato plant at a different place. That home grown cherry tomato changed everything I thought I knew about what a tomato tasted like!
When we got our first house with a small backyard in 2019, we decided to give gardening a real try. We built two 4×8 raised beds, excited to plant them out the next Spring.
Well, we all know how 2020 went. In a time where our lives were so uncertain, that garden became my lifeline. I spent hours and hours learning how to grow food, and trying to apply what I learned. I had plenty of failures, but was determined to make it work. The next year we built two more 4×8 raised beds and grew 200 lbs of food in our little backyard.
What surprised me the most were all of the benefits I got from gardening that had nothing to do with produce. I had a place I could go to quiet my mind. To really slow down and admire the beauty around me. I had a sanctuary.
All of our priorities changed after that first garden. We’ve moved to a bigger space that allows us to grow more food (our current record is 700 lbs). Now our favorite thing to do is invite people over and serve them food grown and made with love.
So if you’ve been on the fence about whether or not to start a garden, I hope my story inspires you to go for it. You might just surprise yourself and grow beyond your wildest dreams.
I can’t wait to see the magical space you create.