They say that scent memories trigger the strongest memories and emotions and it's very true for me. The distinctive scent of tomato leaves bring back vivid memories of my childhood when my granddad was a commercial tomato grower in Southern California. I'm 14 in that picture above, sitting on a tractor next to the man I loved so much. I'm certain his spirit follows me around as I'm tend my own garden. I reach down and the distinctive bouquet of the tomato leaf instantly transports me back to Ventura County where he lived and farmed. Spending a summer night at granddad's meant waking up before dawn, shivering into shorts (later on it would get so hot!) and then covering up with a sweatshirt. We sat in an ice-cold kitchen and ate bacon and eggs and toast prepared by my great aunt, my grandfather's older sister who tended house for him after his wife, my grandmother, died. We would then hop into granddad's Ford pickup where a scratchy wool blanket was waiting for me. We drove on bumpy lumpy dusty dirt roads as the sun rose, past endless miles of cornfields, tomato fields, bean fields, and orange and avocado orchards. Depending on what field we were checking on that day, we might head west to the coast to check on his tomato fields in Oxnard, or as far north as Ojai where it was hotter and everything ripened sooner. (I learned early on what our California micro-climates meant to a farmer.) We stopped at noon for lunch, always at a Mexican cafe, both of us being big fans of spicy cuisine. Our favorite spot was the Owl Cafe in Camarillo, smack dab in the middle of nowhere. I marveled at how my grandfather found it each time--there were no landmarks that I could see, just fields and more fields, then plop, a little cafe would appear off in the distance. (Over the years, and after my grandfather had died, that little cafe was eventually surrounded by a shopping center and a housing development.) My husband and I are lucky that we have our 2 year old grandson visit us often, and as we spend time with him, a lot of that time is spent in the garden, I wonder what he will retain and what he'll recall. What memories will he hold? Those pictures of him above are too funny! He is really putting his back into his work! We bought him his own set of miniature tools so he is quite prepared!

These last two weeks we've had some big tomato harvests.  One day we picked 40 pounds of tomatoes, that's 3 large buckets, and they totally filled my sink. I saved a lot for giving away and for eating fresh, but I also made 14 quarts of roasted tomato sauce. I'll end up with over 30 quarts in the freezer before summer's over and over the course of a year we'll use it all for spaghetti sauce and tomato soup, plus other recipes too. We're having a great tomato year but our green beans, cucumbers, pattypan summer squash, and beets are doing well too. It's just a good year all around! I've got some links to share below:

Hello! I'm still here but have had to put myself on a social media exile for the time being. In late spring my mother became very ill and sorting out everything involved with that has taken much of my time. This dear blog of mine, sweet Ravelry and daily postings in Facebook have had to take a back seat to caring for mother, who at 89 is handling the new transitions in her life like a champ. It's all too much to talk about here, and honestly, I really don't have the words to quite describe what she is going through. Maybe it's enough to say it's overwhelming to us all--sad, complex, complicated; with a labyrinth of paperwork, research, questions and phone calls that rivals anything I've ever done. My two goals are to support my mother with love and dignity and keep myself healthy while doing it. If you've read this blog for only a short time, you'll know that knitting and gardening are two things that help to keep me sane, so I've been trying to keep those two in my life as much as possible. As I'm writing this, I'm smelling the tomatoes and garlic roasting in the oven, soon to become tomato sauce. And as for knitting, it's all about gorgeous yarns and patterns that showcase fabric and fit. I've been knitting up a storm as you'll see.

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