🌿 I Killed the Herb Garden

Dear friends,

Saturn Peach has gotten a little makeover! I took Cody Cook-Parrott’s Success on Substack class last week and finally customized the look of this newsletter a little more. I hope you like it!

I’ve also been thinking about the content of each letter. When I launched a few months ago, I planned to choose a theme each month for my essay and designer’s notes. Now, a few months in, I’ve noticed that the theme I choose is just some variation on “creativity” or “attention,” two things that I never get tired of thinking or writing about. I’m going to simplify Saturn Peach by just…writing about those things, without the need to choose some other code word.

You’ll still hear from me on (usually) the first and third Mondays of the month—Issue 1 will share an essay and other updates, and Issue 2 will share my designer’s notes on a game, zine, or other project.

With that all said, let’s dive in!

I decided this spring that I wanted to grow an herb garden—or, more accurately, that I wanted to be the kind of person who has an herb garden. (My sister would call that kind of person a “tomato girl”—we’ve been joking that the nonbinary version is a “cucumber friend.”)

Shortly after deciding this, I visited the garden center with a friend and had a lovely afternoon picking out Spanish lavender, Tuscan rosemary, English thyme, and non-specific sage. I got some care advice from the garden center owner, got the plants into empty pots I already had, and then took this photo and excitedly shared it with everybody.

My indoor plants have been doing pretty well lately, and my old marble queen pothos even made a u-turn from the brink of death and started growing new leaves like you wouldn’t believe. Bolstered by this miracle, I proceeded to totally ignore that outdoor plants would probably need different kinds of care.

I did not take an “after” photo of the herb garden.

My indoor plants seemed to be doing so well on their own that I completely forgot how much time and work it had taken me to help them get there. I got my first houseplants early on in the pandemic, and I had so much to learn: which corners got the right kind of light, what seasonal changes look like, when yellow leaves are fine and when they’re bad, when and how much to water. When I moved apartments, I had to learn everything all over again as I helped my little guys settle into their new homes.

I’ve found that pothos are my most reliable companions, but snake plants, spider plants, and ZZ plants can also do fairly well in the kind of light we have. I’ve taken in a pencil cactus and a rubber tree from a friend who moved, and I’ve let a sweet potato hang out for long enough that it’s become a houseplant instead of a side dish waiting to happen. To stay on a watering schedule, I wait for a pothos to look thirsty and then give everybody a lil drink until some water drips out the bottom. I always let my partner know when someone is putting out a new leaf, so we can properly observe and appreciate it.

Sure, plants need pots, dirt, and water, but the real work of taking care of a plant is giving it your attention. Because that’s less quantifiable to me than dirt or water, I really didn’t remember how much attention a new plant takes. I set up my herbs without taking the time to figure out which places would have enough light for them, how often they needed water, or what the warning signs looked like—until it was too late.

I want to try again next spring. Next time around, I’ll know that those pots weren’t the right size, that corner of my back porch is not a great spot, I need to water them more often than I did, and things are bad when everybody starts to look a little crispy.

Maybe I should start practicing my foccacia-making skills now, so I have something to do with all those herbs once I figure out how to grow them.

Special Announcements

• Some of you might know that I received a Literature Fellowship from my city this year! As part of that fellowship, I need to complete a community benefit project, and I’ve just launched mine. Introducing: Camberville Lit, a free monthly newsletter that’s building literary community in Cambridge & Somerville, Massachusetts. If you’re local and have literary news to share, let us know! 💌
• I’m running the final dress rehearsals for some new classes and workshops through my indie publisher Sword & Kettle Press this fall! You can learn more about our workshop line-up here, and join us by becoming a member of our Patreon 📝

Things I Worked On This Month

• I’ve made it to Week Nine of The Artist’s Way! As I’ve gotten more invested in this process, it’s become my main creative pursuit. I’m planting the seeds of lots of projects right now, and I’m excited to tend to them more once I finish up this workbook.
• I’m laying out a second printing of my poetry zine Late Eclipses in the Sun & Moon, now with bonus b-side poems!

Things I Loved This Month

• I was so lucky to visit Croatia with my family in August. We got to see a few different places along the coast, and visit the island my grandparents grew up on. I got my first film camera to take photos while we were there!
• The queer yoga class & community gathering at my neighborhood studio
• Reading through T. Kingfisher’s back catalogue (even if her fairy tales are very scary)
• the record by boygenius, which I’ve been spinning on repeat in preparation for seeing their show later this month
• Delicious almond butter granola with nondairy yogurt. I haven’t made my own granola in a while, but I love this recipe
• Whisper of the Heart, a quiet but delightful Studio Ghibli movie about pursuing creativity. Is anyone else anxiously awaiting the release of The Boy and the Heron?

Thanks for joining me today! Next time, I’m hoping to share an excerpt of a work in progress.