Miranda J. Roberts
WRITER | GARDENER | EDUCATOR
 
   
  Transforming Spaces
 

The first home of my very own was in Malawi, Eastern Africa, where I served as a Peace Corps volunteer from 1999-2001. I can’t remember what compelled me to start a garden, but I had the space and Malawians in my community, being predominately subsistence farmers, kept asking me when I was going to plant maize. I think they were confused as to how I expected to eat without a maize crop, some greens, tomatoes, and onions. I followed their lead, and the next thing I knew I was a full-fledged gardener—if I wasn’t growing something, I just didn’t feel quite right.
                                       

When I returned home to the U.S. I moved from a rural African village to a second floor apartment of the third-tier city of Greensboro, North Carolina. Still, my compulsion to grow my own food was strong I and planted a developed a rooftop garden using containers. Though small, it yielded many tomatoes, basil, chili peppers, and the picture-perfect sunflower featured above. In the fall, this same sunflower became a favorite feeding spot for goldfinches.