Editors' note: Growth in the time of hardship

“The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent, not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious.

- Tom Robbins

For our inaugural quaran-zine, an homage to the humble beet may seem a bit unexpected. But beets are hardy, adaptable vegetables. They are known for growing almost anywhere, under unlikely conditions. In fact, they do especially well in home gardens - which seemed especially appropriate given that we are all trying to grow while stuck at home.

They were also, serendipitously, part of Rachel’s CSA delivery when we first hatched the plan for our zine. And after hacking off the tops where new green leaves were sprouting so she could roast them into something delicious, she decided to try sticking these root stubs into a plate of water.

These fledgling beet stubs not only thrived - they inspired. Here they were, fragments of their former selves sitting in a most unnatural place, a shallow dish with water. Yet, despite the lack of soil, a fraction of the original root and sitting on Rachel’s kitchen counter, the once droopy and dehydrated leaves sprung to life and reached toward the sun cascading in through the nearby window. These plants were forced into a new way of living and, in a stunning plot twist, they began to flourish! Rachel was certainly surprised by how a few decapitated vegetable stalks were able to grow delicious leaves that she has now put in at least two separate salads! We realized that perhaps there was something to be learned from these unassuming beets.

We’re currently living through a crisis unlike any we’ve seen for a century or more. Yet we refuse to wilt. We’re continually finding new ways to connect, to communicate, to learn, to lift each other up. We’re learning about our own abilities in times of hardship. We’re learning new skills, recalibrating our lives at a speed we never would have imagined months ago. We’re exploring new creative outlets and discovering joy while stuck at home.

This quaran-zine is a celebration of the change and growth that we’re all seeing in the midst of a global pandemic. Watching these beets thrive on a little mismatched plate, we wanted to be those beets. Or at least to write about them. On one hand, this was a silly creative writing prompt. Our imaginations took us in wildly different directions, both literal and metaphorical. You’d be hard pressed to find beets in both plots. On the other hand, we saw so many unexpected commonalities between the stories we wrote. In both stories, we traveled far from home - the only way we’re allowed to travel these days, after all. Both stories contain pairs of people united by life altering conflict. And although conflict is most often uncomfortable, it has the capacity to stimulate new growth in unexpected ways.

All of this from a couple of de-rooted vegetables in a dish. These stories recognize our own capacity to thrive in our little mismatched plates. And just like a beet, it’s interesting to see what takes root. We hope you enjoy our first collaborative creative project. It has been fun to assemble it together, and we hope this is the first of many editions to come!

Careme Schnell & Saunead Ennage