Betsy Brook Of Little Beauties Home: 5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Successful Vegetable Garden To Grow Your Own Food
An Interview With Martita Mestey
Decide how much space you have to give to your garden. I have grown fruits & veggies both in a back yard space, in the ground with lots of room and in pots and a DIY raised, wooden garden bed on a screened porch. Anything is possible, you can grow anywhere with the right planning.
As we all know, inflation has really increased the price of food. Many people have turned to home gardening to grow their own food. Many have tried this and have been really successful. But others struggle to produce food in their own garden. What do you need to know to create a successful vegetable garden to grow your own food? In this interview series, called “5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Successful Vegetable Garden To Grow Your Own Food” we are talking to experts in vegetable gardening who can share stories and insights from their experiences.
As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Betsy Brook.
Betsy Brook of Littlebeautieshome.com is a stay-at-home/homeschooling mom with a passion for slowing down life to enjoy with her family. Gardening is one of the ways she and her family slow down & enjoy time together.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”?
Of course! I am an unexpected homeschooling mom. I say unexpected because homeschooling is not what my husband or I intended for our family as our children started school. We felt the pull to have more family time and give our children a longer, slower childhood.
We saw that disappearing with the hustle and bustle we were already experiencing with them at such a young age. Starting out we decided to give homeschool a year to try and here we are many years later loving the decision more and more as the years go by.
I decided to start a website as place to share what I’ve learned along the way with homeschool & as a place to inspire & encourage other families.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
Each and every day homeschooling my children there are such beautiful moments that can slip away if I’m not mindful to slow down and notice them. I think that the pandemic really spotlighted that notion to a lot of people and especially to families of young children.
I would say the realization of this, lead me to begin my website and blog. Hearing from readers that they are enjoying and utilizing my tips is by far the most interesting aspect of this part of my career.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
1. Learning to give myself grace — allowing mistakes to happen and realizing that all days aren’t going to go perfectly or as planned & encouraging others to do the same is such a wonderful trait I feel that has helped me gain trust from my readers.
2. Approachability & embracing uniqueness– making sure that my ideas and pieces of advice that I share are geared towards all of my possible audiences. I think in the age of social media and the often projected image of perfection, people can get caught up trying be/do the same as what they see.
On the flip side, I think a lot of people can back away from something because they can’t see themselves at all relating to whatever it is they are looking at/or reading about. Instead I hope to give ideas that will inspire each reader to find the best way for them to do things with their own homeschool and families.
3. Honesty — I really believe that honesty is the best character trait for one to have to be successful in any aspect of life. I strive to find the most relevant topics in homeschooling and then work hard to provide the most thought out, researched, tested, honest ideas & reviews.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
This is a hard question because I have so many favorite quotes! One I think that is most relevant to my life is by C.S. Lewis “Children are not a distraction from the more important work. They ARE the most important work.”
Quite simply, children are our future. Choosing to invest my time with my children, during the most precious, fleeting time we call childhood, has been the best choice my husband and I made regarding our family. For me to want to share my ideas and things I have learned with others has been such a natural transition into another career for me.
Are you working on any interesting or exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Each day I work on my blog is exciting for me! I wish I had a one stop resource like my website, when I was starting out as a new homeschooling parent. It makes me so excited to think about helping others, especially now as the homeschooling community has grown so much these past couple of years.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about creating a successful garden to grow your own food. Can you help articulate a few reasons why people should be interested in making their own vegetable garden? For example, how is it better for our health? For the environment? For our wallet?
All of the above reasons are great for starting your own garden! It is healthier being in control of your food & what is going in, on and around it while it grows. It is better for the environment by helping to cut down on transportation costs & its negative effect on our air quality from pollution. It is most definitely better for your wallet since the cost of a packet of organic seeds is usually less than the cost of what the fruit or vegetable would be at the market as a onetime purchase.
One other health related benefit that I feel is definitely worth mentioning, is the calming effect gardening can have on your mental health. Losing yourself in the act of caring for the plants is such a wonderful de-stressor that so many of us need these days.
Where should someone start if they would like to start a garden? Which resources would you recommend? Which plants should they start with?
I would say if someone if interested in starting a garden, first decide what you would like to grow. Then research online, at the library or through an expert at a local garden center, what of your wish list will grow in your area.
Can you please share your “5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Successful Vegetable Garden To Grow Your Own Food”? If you can, please share a story or example for each.
1. Plan out what you would like to grow. Get your kids involved — this is so fun for them!
2. Research what will grow where you like and the timeline needed to grow for the upcoming season.
3. Decide how much space you have to give to your garden. I have grown fruits & veggies both in a back yard space, in the ground with lots of room and in pots and a DIY raised, wooden garden bed on a screened porch. Anything is possible, you can grow anywhere with the right planning.
4. Plant your seeds or plants according to instructions — don’t overcrowd them!
5. Have patience & water daily!
What are the most common mistakes you have seen people make when they start a garden? What specifically can be done to avoid those errors?
Overcrowding! I have done this myself, many times. It’s so hard to plant too many seeds, have them all start to grow and then have to pull little, healthy plants and discard them. My kids always help with the whole process and they hate having to see little seedlings get thrown out too.
If you’re worried seeds won’t take I would suggest starting them in many individual peat moss starter cups and transplant only the strong ones, eliminating the need to have to decide which to keep later in the process.
What are some of the best ways to keep the costs of gardening down?
Start with seeds! Seeds are way less expensive than starting a garden with plants and actually a lot more fun! If you have children, this is a great learning experience for them as well! Have them start a garden journal and track the progress weekly for each plant.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Slow down & be kind & patient with one another ☺
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
Honestly, being with my family, my husband, kids, our parents, our siblings, nieces & nephews, aunts & uncles — that’s what makes me happiest and who I would choose!
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Through my website & blog: Little Beauties Home
Thank you so much for the time you spent on this interview. We wish you only continued success and good health.
Thank you — this was fun & I wish the same to you!
Betsy Brook Of Little Beauties Home: 5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Successful Vegetable… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.