The Stealth Herb Garden

.

Once I had a beautiful, abundant vegetable and herb garden that brought me great pleasure and joy. Sadly, it was one of the things I loved that got swept under and destroyed in the tsunami that raged through my life in the last year+.
exhale
But like any relentless survivor, after pulling myself from the wreckage, I began to build again. The place I live now did not come with a garden, but that did not deter me. Around the pool I noticed a lush array of drought-tolerant greenery (LA is a desert- having a grass lawn here is not good use of resources!). I thought to myself, Huh, you know oregano would blend right in over there...
And the Stealth Herb Garden was born. Today I cultivate basil, oregano, parsley, mint and German thyme around the pool. The other day I was putting in a new mint plant and an old Armenian lady stopped to watch.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
I got nervous- would she bust me?- but what's the point of lying. "Planting mint. You can have some if you want." I pointed out the other herbs too.
She smacked her forehead, "Twenty-five years I lived here, and I never thought of that!" And we grinned at each other.
It felt good to have something to share.