I blame my friend for all this. She posted on Facebook about how she was working on her new vegetable garden and what she was planting and what her future gardening plans were.
I thought, "I used to do that. I want to do that again. But right now my raised beds are neglected and full of weeds, and I really don't have the energy to do anything with them." I have fibromyalgia, and there are a lot of things I just don't do any more because I'm in pain or too tired or can't get my brain to function properly.
A few weeks later, an unrelated event provoked a tiny little mini-breakdown. I realised that I hadn't been coping at all well with the restrictions my health puts on me and I feel that the majority of the plans I made for my life are now impossible to go through with. I wanted to do something important and useful and significant with my life and if I wasn't sick I'd be doing that right now - I'm naturally very smart and capable and have an unshakable love for science (my two attempts at studying for a degree were aborted due to illness rather than lack of ability).
I needed some new meaning in my life.
Right. I'll grow vegetables. I used to do this years ago, it's not really hard work and with it I can contribute towards the household finances by cutting our food bills. The Skeldyman can help with the more physical stuff like carting manure, pulling up weeds, carrying things, etc.
The gardening friend spurred something else too. She wants to grow vegetables everywhere but her partner prefers to keep flowers and vegetables in separate areas of the garden. Vegetables aren't pretty, apparently! And this got me thinking: why not breed vegetables that are attractive enough to grow with your flowers, but that give you a useful food harvest too?
And so from that germ of an idea, the Rainbow Pea Project was born.
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