The Garden of Weeden - Twin brothers. Different mothers. Same dirt under our fingernails

The Garden of Weeden

Twin brothers. Different mothers. Same dirt under our fingernails.

True story.

This is the tale of Darrell Sturgill and Darrel Sturgill — twin brothers of different mothers. Same father. Same stubborn streak. Same love for family, faith, and growing things.

We live 7–9 hours apart, depending on which direction you’re driving and whether Kentucky and Missouri decide to cooperate with the time zones. It takes me about nine hours to get to Whitesburg, Kentucky… but somehow only seven hours coming back home to St. Louis. I still blame the time change.

For months now, my brother Darrell has asked me the same question almost every week: “Have you planted your garden yet?”

Two weeks ago, I finally surprised him. “Yep.”

Last fall, I replaced the windows on my back porch with thick plexiglass, accidentally transforming the whole thing into a makeshift greenhouse. One minute I was winterizing the porch… the next I was growing vegetables from seeds harvested from plants we had already eaten. There’s probably a lesson in that somewhere.

That conversation sparked an idea.

What if we started something together?

So here we are.

This is the first post — hopefully the first of many — in a little project we’re calling The Garden of Weeden.

The name is a play on gardening, brotherhood, faith, and maybe a little harmless mischief. Originally, I joked about calling it A Modern-Day Tale of Cain and Abel, since my brother is the hunter in the family and I’m more likely to hurt myself with a shovel than track a deer through the woods. But considering how things ended for Abel in the original story… we decided that might not be the best branding strategy.

For the record, I was raised a cradle Roman Catholic. My brother Darrell and his family are Southern Baptists. But at the end of the day, we still share the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost — and that seems like a pretty solid place to start.

So here we go.

According to my brother Darrell, when the snowball bushes are in full bloom, it’s finally safe to plant your garden. Around here, that kind of wisdom carries more authority than most weather apps.

The hope for this “sister blog” is simple:

• gardening stories
• lessons learned the hard way
• old wives’ tales
• quotes from the Farmer’s Almanac
• tips from people who actually know what they’re doing
• reflections on faith, family, and life

Because truthfully, I am far from Mr. Green Jeans.

I’m learning as I go.

And maybe that’s the whole point.

We would also love for this to become something bigger than just the two of us. If you’re a gardener, storyteller, backyard philosopher, or someone with dirt under your nails and wisdom worth sharing, we’d love to hear from you.

If there’s enough interest, I’m even willing to give contributing author access for future posts.

Feel free to comment below, send a DM, or email me at: dgsturgill@gmail.com

Welcome to The Garden of Weeden.

Let’s see what grows here.