About a week into our now close-to-one-month-and-counting isolation with our 90 year old mom, my sister and I started to realize that getting a window for grocery delivery, by way of either Pea Pod or Amazon Prime for Whole Foods, was going to be problematic.

Cut to me at 2am on an app on my phone, cursing and trying to no avail to push an order thru. (For the record I don’t recommend doing this, it has not worked even once for me. It is, however, a way to feel the tiniest bit productive, a way of telling myself that at least I’m doing something, when I panic wake in the middle of the night and start stressing over the whole situation.)

And , even when we’ve been lucky enough to here and there secure a food drop-off in this the new abormal world of distance, anxiety, and Lysol wiping down almost everything (You are wiping all the packaging, mail, and cardboard boxes down, aren’t you?), the options for fresh vegetables — beyond, say, cellery, carrots or cilantro (not a fan) — have been limited.

I knew that we weren’t alone, though, because (in addition to the memes and Tweets about ongoing delivery window drama) I’ve now started seeing a number of friends, both the real and the online variety, posting about how they want, need, absolutely have to start some kind of vegetable garden asap.

Now, I don’t know thing one about embarking on a backyard garden. (For the record, if it counts for anything, I did lean into the overalls, aka , FARMER jeans, trend back in the 90’s.)

But I have started researching and it looks as though there are quite a few croptions (See what I did there? Crops + Options = CROPTIONS! Hey, worrisome and difficult times, so it’s completely okay to start creating new words, don’t ya think?) when it comes to what will grow here in Rhode Island, including but not limited to: tomatoes, potatoes, onions, radish, corn, carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, lettuce, beans (snap, pinto, baby lima), peas, kohlrabi (apparently also called a German turnip?), eggplant, asparagus, and no surprise, pumpkins.

On the topic of backyard gardens in general, my niece’s husband was just saying that it’s too bad that CLUCK closed and I have to agree. If you’re looking to buy local when it comes to your supplies (seeds, gear, and such), news flash, there are still some solid go-to’s to consider. As a matter of fact, you may want to look into online or phone ordering from Rhody farms and nurseries like The Farmer’s Daughter in South County (a perrenial favorite of mine from the time before the plague) or Seasons Of New England in Warwick.

That’s all for right now.

In the meantime, stay well!