Day 31: Ueda
(08/29/06)

In Ueda the five of us stayed with Mike and Patti, one of the more interesting couples I've met. Both are into gardening and have a backyard garden as well as a plot elsewhere in town. Patti studied horticulture and worked at a big park in Vancouver for five years, traveling during the off season. Mike has been all over the place. For two years, he tended to the garden at an organic farm in Maine in exchange for rent. Staying with them, I was struck by their obvious love of growing things--Mike excitedly described an unexpected strain of Indian corn that had sprung up in the garden, their shelf was full of homemade pickles, the counter covered with veggies from their garden.

They met while traveling around Latin America, Venezuela I think. After meeting, they hit it off, cancelled their tickets home, and have been together ever since. Now they are looking forward to their first baby and plan to move to British Columbia in August. They have land east of the mountains there and eventually want to build a house and settle down there. Their love for and connection to each other is nearly tangible. Their life seemed adventurous yet simple and calm. It made me think about the kind of home life that I want. One could certainly do worse than to emulate theirs. In a more immediate sense, it also helped me realize how rewarding it would be to grow some of my own food. When I get to St. Paul, I will have to find somewhere to play at gardening a bit.