A few years ago, my mother's cousin Linda said to me, "I sure your new house has fabulous gardens, after all you have the Cox green thumb!" (Cox being my mother's family; apparently everyone was a mini Martha Stewart in the garden).
I agreed, because I have a large ego and of course, did not want to be seen as some black sheep and because I could get away with it (my house was about 350 miles away).
That was 6 years ago. I never would have pictured myself a garden girl. I really don't like to be dirty. Most indoor plants die under my neglect. And my thumb was closer to orange than green. But, I wanted desperately to be a garden girl, after all I grew up with fresh produce all summer long from my Dad's backyard garden.
When I was 6 or 7, my Granddad (husband to the fabulous Nana) brought me lettuce seeds. We spent an afternoon in June planting these seeds. He choose the perfect spot in my father's enormous vegetable garden with just enough shade and just enough light. And we talked about rain and sun and soil and rabbits (he had a deep disdain for these critters) and salad (my favorite food then and now). My Granddad was green from his thumbs to his toes--spending time with him in the garden was like throwing a baseball with Babe Ruth. I spent the summer caring for that lettuce like it was a baby and then took joy in serving homemade garden salads to my family--I can still taste that lettuce. It was crispy, yet warm and tasted like the soil it grew in and of the hands that planted it. It was mine and my Granddad's.
My Dad has a green thumb too. I think tomatoes may be one of my father's heroes. He will deny it, but every summer his backyard garden would be filled with tomatoes. My dad taught me the plethora of meals you could make with tomatoes--tomato sandwiches, stuffed tomatoes, homemade red sauce and broiled tomatoes. My favorite, however, was a tomato right off the vine. Those tomatoes tasted like sunshine and hard work-the perfect combination of luxury and nourishment.
My final garden role model is my partner in crime and husband, Mike. I've known Mike since we were kids--but I never knew he had a green thumb--not until the day I found him admiring rotten tomatoes and getting excited to collect their seeds. We bought our house and after a year, there is my husband obsessing over heirloom plants, building trellises out of plywood and planning our future running an organic farm/yoga retreat. Every time I nosh on something Mike grew, I taste the love. And now, we grew our garden together with our girls. Herbs, flowers, tomatoes, lettuce, peas and squash. It all tastes of love and our hard work.
