instead of becoming "someone I would never see again"....
Once I saw Shana’s chalk art, she drew all the signs.
This is Part 2 of a story. Read Part 1 here.
Two weeks later, the gardener that I worked for, Liz, asked me if I knew anyone who needed a job.
The person would have to be good at manual labor, and get along with Liz, whose management style included a fair amount of heckling and a low tolerance for complaining. Liz was a character -- and not for the faint hearted.
“You know Shana, the girl from CSA pickup who doesn’t wear a lot of clothing?” (Liz, an older CSA member, had commented on Shana’s personal style, eyebrow raised). “She’s a strong worker. And she might be interested. But not if you tell her that she has to wear longer shorts.”
I barely knew Shana, but I had learned that she certainly did not have a faint heart -- and something told me that she & Liz would get along. That, perhaps, the three of us would get along.
And get along we did.
Liz decided that her upscale gardening clients would just have to deal with Shana’s minimal clothing, and we got to work.
Turns out, Shana & I had the best type of work chemistry: able to go real deep about life and love and family dynamics, able to crack jokes and break off into a chorus of animal sounds when the heat had us slap happy with exhaustion, able to give each other space on the days when you definitely don’t feel like talking.
Our days working together felt less like work and more like sweating beside your friend, alternating among relationship support to rescuing snails to sharing glances across garden beds at Liz’s antics.
And Shana, turns out, had an excellent eye for botany & plant ID. She could see a plant she’d never even met before, and guess what family it was in. Amazing. I’d noticed, over the years, that artists seem to have a keen eye for botany, and Shana was no exception. I’d been able to get a glance at her sketchbooks here and there, and I was impressed.
We had such a good time gardening together, that I invited Shana to work with me in the LL garden, and she agreed.
I knew that I could trust Shana to care for all the herbs -- she knew what she was doing. But she'd also do other bits of wonderful mischief, like installing small stone pathways to guide visitors' unwary feet, or making amazing chalk art with the signs.
Shana took just as much delight as I did in closely examining flowers, scoping out potential gnome habitats, and tasting everything in the garden. I loved the days I got to work with her.
Instead of becoming someone "I would never see again," Shana became one of my closest friends.
Let's fast forward again, through the sudden loss of Liz in 2019 -- watch as Shana & her partner come over that night, the four of us sitting in silence, tears, and small chatter as we listened to one of Liz's folk albums in disbelief. Shana & I trying to garden without her before deciding it's too painful, and that we would go our separate ways, me to make LL my full-time gig, and Shana to do gardening work elsewhere. Us trying to stay in touch and mildly succeeding, because staying in touch is so much easier when you work with someone all the time.
Let's fast forward all the way up to the present moment, perhaps skipping a few important scenes, but arriving to this email, when you might be wondering where this story is headed and why I'm telling it to you.
You might think I'm about to draw some conclusion about judging people based on first impressions, the importance of making friends with people who are different from you, or how it's funny that the people I become closest to always seem to be the people I'm initially most intimidated by (it's a pattern).
I'm not going to draw any such conclusions, but you may draw them for yourself, if you like.
In fact, this story contains no lessons at all (and truthfully, the deepest lessons from any friendship are the layers of understanding that unfold among hours of conversation, and the continued delight that comes from simply experiencing another person's existence -- their insights, observations, humor, and quirks).
I'm telling you this story because:
1) Shana is amazing, and I hope you get to meet her one day.
Shana & I are so, so excited about this project. And I wanted you to get to know her a bit before announcing it to you. Not just know her, but know about our friendship, and how much we love making mischief together.
And, because this is Shana's story, too, I'll let her have the last word.
From Shana:
Amanda and I met in 2014. It was at a point in my life where I was feeling stuck. I wanted to do something different.
A coworker at the brewery I worked at mentioned his friend had a small organic farm and always appreciated extra hands. I had no experience farming and was nervous as hell about it. I didn’t anticipate fitting in. Fortunately, to my surprise, my expectations were smashed upon arrival. Amanda, Kat and Sarah immediately accepted me. I remember we harvested Dragon Tongue string beans and Amanda was eager to answer my many questions about plants. That day, she was talking about her love for poetry and herbalism. I thought she was so cool, intelligent, kind and honest. I wanted to know more about her.
In 2015 I started working at the farm, and through the next couple years we stayed in light contact. Then, in 2018, she reached out to me about a gardening job with her poetry friend Liz. I was excited to learn more about plants and mostly excited to work with Amanda again.
Working with people while working with plants does something. Being with the dirt, life/death/life cycles, sharing stories, talking to each other, being a part of it, you get to know each other pretty quickly. I learned of her love for bevs and prioritizing coziness. Her friendships to the plants and gnomes. The joy she has in sharing her knowledge of magick and plants. Being unapologetically her dang self. Her determination and independence is admirable. I am extremely lucky to call her a friend. I also learned we work really well together. We’ve worked together here and there since the gardening days and now here we are doing this together!* I’m so excited to be creating this magick* with her and to read what she has to share about these plant friends :)
Shana with Hopi Tobacco. Shana is definitely a member of the Solanacea family.
Shana & I trying Costmary for the first time. Want to taste it yourself? Come visit LL!
*what is this magick, you may be wondering? Click here to find out!