The hat you see here is more than just a hat. In its brim lie a bittersweet story.
My grandfather was a hardworking man who loved to grow food. You could always find him planting in his vegetable garden, picking tomatoes, or tending his fruit trees. His garden was a large part of who he was, you would swear that it was dirt running through his veins not blood.
I remember the feeling of excitement as I asked my grandfather if I could pick something from his garden. The anticipation of the sweet taste of a carrot or the joy of finding a green bean that was just ripe, going out to the garden was always an adventure, like a treasure hunt.
I have many, many fond memories of that beautiful garden, feeling the soft grass on my bare toes as I ran around the fruit trees, watching him plant beetroot seeds or helping him pick rhubarb.
His garden became like a refuge and has always had a special place in my heart. It’s a place I learned to appreciate the beauty of nature, where I first learnt to grow food as a little girl. It is where my love and adoration for growing food has come from.
My passion for the garden ultimately stems from the love that my grandfather had for growing and the garden.
More so than his love for the garden though, was his love for his family. He chose to show that love by being a provider. When he was just a child, he helped to support his 9 siblings and his parents by growing and selling poppies in a nearby field. When he got married and had a child of his own, he provided for them by growing their vegetables, and then when he had grandchildren, he provided us with the joy of his garden, teaching us how to grow food and sharing the spoils of his hard work.
Even now after his death he is still providing. He lovingly left his property to us, his grandchildren.
This homestead is only happening because of his love for his garden and his family. I am forever grateful for what he did for us and the example he set.
I recently became a mother myself and life seems different now, I can see just how important it is that we teach our children.
I want to be a good role model to my daughter just like my grandfather was to me. I want to be a provider, not only of food, but of knowledge. I want her to know where our food comes from and how it grows. I want her to know the feeling of accomplishment when you harvest and eat something that you have tended to and nurtured.
I want to create that same space of refuge and learning I had in my grandfather’s garden for her.
This homestead is for my beautiful daughter, and it would not be happening if not for the inspiration of my grandfather, his love for both the garden and his family.
I miss my grandad dearly, and every time I am in the garden, I think of him. How he inspires me to keep growing. The many lessons he has taught me and the home he left to me.
I now wear this hat, the homestead hat, my grandfather’s hat, as a symbol of my roots, a symbol of family, a symbol of my gratitude for not just my grandfather’s gift of his property but the gift of his knowledge and inspiration.
