I grew up in old Carpentersville, in the Dundee area.
Growing up, it was always like, you just drove through Elgin. There was no stopping in between, because back then, in the late 80s, early 90s, it just had a bad rep, you know? I never really visited Elgin much until I got older when I started working for an environmental company based out of Elgin. I had been in the restaurant business for about 7 years, at one point I managed Emmett’s in Dundee for a little while. When my son started school, I made the decision to leave that industry because I needed to be home evenings & weekends. It was difficult because I had to start at the bottom. I had zero experience, but I knew I needed something with benefits. I reached out to a friend & left her a voicemail saying, “Hey, I need to get outta the restaurant business. If you know of anything, let me know.” She called me a couple days later letting me know about a job opening. It was at the company that I work for still. It was an administrative type position. I said, "I'll take it! I'll take it!" It was a huge pay cut, but I didn't have to work weekends or nights, I got full benefits & a 401k. So in the end, it made sense & it worked out. I'm still with the company. It's been 15 & a half years.
I moved to Elgin from St. Charles in 2017. The prices were much more reasonable, which allowed me to do something on my own. I got a cute little American Four Square in the Swan neighborhood. I just loved it. It was completely renovated & perfect for me & my son. Then, when Seth & I got married, we moved to the house we're in now, another American Four Square. It's perfect for us. It was built in 1907. I don't remember much about its history, just that it really needed some major updating. The first thing we did was rip out the carpeting. It was green shag all up the stairs & in the living room & dining room. We uncovered original maple floors & got them refinished. We're also on a double lot that the previously owners use to garden, so it was easy to start visualizing what I could do with it.
I owe a lot of my love for gardening & just crafty type things to my mom. Growing up, she always had some sort of vegetable garden & plants around the house. Having grown up on a farm in Mexico, she's a total farm girl. That was just her lifestyle, how she was raised. Coming here in the early 70s, she just continued to do the things that she loved. I remember, growing up, my mom would pull over on the side of the road next to a corn field & forage. She'd start picking some random weed, or what we thought was a weed, but it was actually edible. It was so embarrassing. People would be driving by & here we are on the side of the corn field, foraging. As a pre-teen you're like, 'Jesus Christ, mom, what the fuck?!' I also remember her crocheting dresses & sewing us clothes. She's always busy & never sits still. Even today. She would always try to get us to try things too, but she never pushed it to the point where we hated it. She had a ton of kids, so I don't really understand how she had time to do all her hobbies. I have eight siblings, there were nine of us, including me. Four brothers & four sisters.
A lot of what I know about gardening is from her, her old knowledge, from growing up on a farm. She'll come over & just look around & start telling me about the plants. I’ve picked up a lot of tips from her, things that you wouldn't learn in a textbook. She's very wise & super smart. She has a way of teaching you without teaching you. Letting you absorb it in your own way, at your own time. She just has this way of doing her thing & it makes people become interested in it too. Like an influencer, if you will, but from way back. She's always curious about all sorts of different things & I've always loved that about her. I don't know how she has the energy she has. From the time she gets up in the morning, till the time she goes to bed, she's always doing something & it's interesting.
My dad has also been a pretty big influence on me. He's very mechanical & likes to figure things out. He's worked on cars since I was very little. I remember growing up he'd have those ridiculously huge mechanic books that were like 3 inches thick & he'd be flipping through them reading, trying to figure out how to fix whatever car he was working on. And he'd figure it out! He'd just read & read — before there was internet. I was always fascinated watching him, trying to figure things out & then actually doing it. There was always at least 2 cars in the driveway that didn't belong to us, that he was fixing for someone & always calls to the house, "Is Maestro home?" (which is teacher) because they wanted to talk to him about some issue they were having with their car. It's was amazing. They're pretty amazing people.
* * * * * * *
When I got the yard, that's when I started doing some gardening on my own. I began by using starter plants from nurseries. It was great, but once I saw I could keep them alive I got very interested in growing the majority of my vegetables from seed. I found some good sources, ordered a bunch of seeds & started in my basement with some grow lights. Then I got to watched them sprout. It's exciting to see that process, but it's even more exciting when you get them into their beds outside & you see them starting to flourish. You're like, 'Holy Shit! I actually grew this from a tiny little seed!' & within a couple of months I'm harvesting it — a full blown eggplant or whatever it is. I start in February with some of them, so it's a really long time until seeing the final product. It's super rewarding. It just feels so damn good.
Sometimes there's plants that don't make it. That's always kind of a bummer, but you learn. You start to figure out what works in your garden. There's a lot of "Aha!" moments because every plant has different needs. Obviously they all need water & sunlight, but different degrees of it. A couple years ago I grew beets for the first time. I didn't have much success & didn't know why. I thought I read everything I needed to read — I always do my research before I get started. But for whatever reason, this time I just missed it. So my results weren't great. Then last year, towards the end, I realized what the issue was. I hadn't add the type of fertilizer it needs in order to produce the root. It's weird when everything is growing underground, you know? You see the foliage on the top & you're like, 'oh, it looks great', but you don't really know that what's going on in the ground. Apparently different vegetables require different fertilizers.
There's always something to learn.
And always issues to troubleshoot.
Pests are one thing I have to research a lot. It's like a fun puzzle to figure out. Like what the hell is this bug? What do I do to get rid of it? What kind of organic options do I have for this? If you want to grow things organically you sometimes have to find other ways to move bugs along. You also have to know what's a beneficial insect & which ones are going to eat all your plants. So there's a lot that goes into it. Sometimes you get lucky & you get rid of the bug. Just completely annihilating it within days. But most times, it's like, okay, well that didn't work. You have to stay on it, trying different things. Sometimes layering ideas. Sometimes things that work for other people don't work for you. The good thing is that there's usually more than one solution. You just have to keep trying until you figure it out. Hopefully you can figure it out before you lose the entire plant.
A big lesson I learned is to not plant all the same thing in one area — like all the tomatoes together or all the pepper together. Because if you have an issue you're having a hard time figuring out, at least you won't lose all your peppers because there's some on the other side of the garden where the issue might not be happening. I also like to incorporate flowers, grouping together a variety of plants. I find it more visually appealing too. Practically though, mingling the plants makes them happier too. They help each other by bringing different pollinators & also help nutrients in the soil last longer. It's like one plant is going to pull the nutrients from the soil that it needs, but the plant next to it doesn't need those nutrients, it needs the other nutrients that this plant doesn't need, so they help each other out that way, instead of a single group that are all the same pulling the same nutrients. Once I figured that out, it became a lot easier. It's a lot of work, but it's fun to me & I have a good time with it.
* * * * * * *
I always start more seeds than I can plant. You don't know which ones are gonna make it & so I end up with extras. I'll give them away to whomever wants them because, you know, it's either that or they're going compost. It really pains me to compost them. When I've grown it from a little seed to this plant, I don't want to get rid of it. But it doesn't make sense to keep every single plant. You just can't do it.
So I'm very thankful that when I offer them up, people take me up on it. They pick them up & whatever they do with them after they leave, I think 'You've done your job.' I feel good knowing they're off to a good home. They're like my tiny little plant babies. I get a bit attached especially when it's a plant that I haven't tried before. I started watermelon this year from seed & oh, the plants just look so freaking gorgeous! One in particular, it's called Moon & Stars, which I'm really excited about. The rind is green & has yellow speckles. It's very neat looking. I had two extras of those & some other types too. I really wanted somebody to take them — these awesome plants that I grew from seed that I've babied since day one. They are going to neighbors, so I hope they do well. I always make sure to tell 'em I grew them organically. It helps to share the circumstances in which they've grown to give them the best chances of surviving. Sometimes it takes some time for a plant to adjust.
* * * * * * *
I grow a lot more than we can consume for sure. We freeze some & eat the rest all summer long. I give a lot away too. Tomatoes, rhubarb & lettuce mostly. Now we have chickens, so the chickens are gonna get some of it too. This is our first year for chickens. We got the permit from the city. They came in, inspected the coop & everything. It was super simple process. We'll use them for eggs & honestly, they're like another one of our pets. They really do have their own personality — some are friendlier than others. It's kind of a zoo right now. But I really like it.
This wasn't the intention at first. We love to travel, but COVID put a stop to that for a while. We didn't really intend on having all these things to keep us home, but it all just built on each other. It's funny, now I prefer to be at home. Before, I felt like I was always looking forward to the next trip. We would joke that while on vacation we'd be planning our next vacation. I don't feel that way anymore, like I want to get away. I want to be here. We're doing things that we probably wouldn't have done if COVID hadn't happened. I don't know that we would've done the garden or gotten the chickens or puppy. We also have two cats. It does feel very much like a homestead now. I have really good conversations with my mom about gardening & chickens, that feels good too, to have a way to connect with her. Especially as she's getting older, it's nice to be able to share these things with her & for her to know that she have an influence on me. I think it makes her feel good too.
Favorite Elgin Spot: Olde Towne Inn. Everyone has always been so friendly & welcoming there
Favorite Food Spot: Elgin Public House. Need I say more?
Favorite Place to Meet Up: 2nd floor of Elgin Public House. It’s quiet up there & super chill.
Favorite Shop: The resale shops are always fun.
Esmeralda lives on the west side of Elgin with her husband puppy, 2 cats & chickens.
You can follow her on IG at @foxredhomestead