Anyway they can:
My turn with spade and hoe started a few years ago when I found myself divorced and flat broke. My livelihood as a freelance writer went out the window when the economy tanked. I literally could afford beans, the dried kind, which I’d thought were for school art projects or teaching elementary math. And I didn’t know how to cook.
Luckily, my late father had hammered into me that grit was more important than talent. So, when I couldn’t afford fancy food — never mind paraben-free shampoo — for my babies, I figured, if peasants in 11th-century Sicily did all this, how hard could it be?
Susan Gregory Thomas's line about the peasants is a little condescending, I think. Doubt it was easy to survive as a peasant in 11th-century Sicily.
Still, I still admire her grit. May need some of that practicality myself.
Apparently Thomas is not just a good gardener, but also a stylish one. Admire that.
Kit Stolz 
Very inspiring indeed. Thank you for sharing.
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Well, I was quoting another freelance writer who had that experience when the economy tanked. For me it’s always been tough, in the Great Recession and after. Always a struggle to pay the rent, but though the money is poor it’s much more soul satisfying than a corporate job I had in the past.
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