A Victory Garden for Trying Times

A woman's journey through a year of love, loss, and despair.

Debi's husband, Peter, was diagnosed with cancer in November, too late in the season to seek solace in the garden. Ever since her childhood on a Niagara farm, Debi has dug in the dirt to find the resilience to move on. With idle hands and a fearful mind, she now sought something to sustain her through the months ahead. She soon came across victory gardens — the vegetable gardens cultivated during the world wars to fight hunger and hold on to hope.

During an anxious winter, she researched, drew plans, and ordered seeds. In spring, with Peter in remission, her garden thrived and life got back on track. But when Peter's cancer returned like a killing frost and he died suddenly of a heart attack, the garden was a reminder that everything ends. For weeks, she hated the garden until she could finally return to tending it, allowing her grief to crack open while preparing it for another year of growth.

A Victory Garden for Trying Times is a journey through a year of love and despair, and a testament to healing in the natural cycles of the earth.