The original idea of what to do with the piece of land in front of our house started to take shape in 2016 when the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau was elected. During his election campaign, the Liberals promised to set yet another tax on Canadian families, and this time was to save the entire world; The Carbon Tax.
Well; they were elected and set themselves to grab more money from our purses without providing a framework to start tapering the usage of fossil fuels. "Not another tax; it is hard as it is!" were the words stuck in my mind constantly. To show that the liberals were bringing responsible governance to Canada, and the world, the government started to work on their Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act legislation. It was just a matter of time before we were going to be paying more for everything.
I needed to do something, regain control somehow; mitigate the blow. On a spring Sunday morning in 2018, I got up early:
"- Jose; why are you getting up so early?"
"- I have something to do in the garden"
Kissed my wife's face and she closed her eyes. Christina did not make much of what I said and stayed in bed for a few more minutes savoring the warmth of our nest. I got dressed, put on my rubber boots, and hoe in hand, like a weapon, marched to the front yard to start lifting the lawn. Christina got up a few minutes later to start her house routines; empty the dishwasher put the coffee on, and prepare breakfast for all of us.
Sunday breakfast at "The Marino Horvath's" has always been a big event. Christina would prepare her famous roasted potato chips which would be accompanied with bacon, fried eggs, and something sweet which would either be Hungarian sweet crepes (palacsinta), real buttermilk pancakes, or Belgian waffles. We have always preferred "Breakfast Food" on Sundays of all things.
Preparing breakfasts is labor-intensive and it takes a long time, so, while Christina was hard at work as a chef I was doing the same in the garden and had lifted half of the lawn already. When breakfast was ready, Christina went to the front door:
"-Jose, breakfast is ready... what are you doing?!"
"-I am going to plant potatoes here..."
"-No, no, stop!" - waving her hand in the air while taking the front door steps down to where I was.
"-You can't plant potatoes there... " - pointing at the ground.
"-But Christina, this carbon tax, food is going to be so much more expensive, we better grow our own, we have the land; we can do this."
"-I'll tell you where to plant potatoes."
"-What do we do with this? Seed it with grass again?"
Christina remained still for a moment with her hands on her waist, looking at the bare land in silence, pondering what to do, then she nodded.
"-Wildflowers"
"-Wildflowers?"
"-Yes; it would be good for the bees" - turning to me with a smile -"which in turn will help pollinate your plants. We'll have more than potatoes! Come, wash up; Breakfast Food is ready".
Ah, If you wonder what my vote was in 2016 and ask me; I would not need to answer that no, I did not vote Liberal, but instead built a wildflower garden!
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