Tis the season to can tomato sauce

I love tomato season. There's nothing better than a locally grown, vine-riped tomato that makes store bought varieties pale in comparison.

Today Pat gave me a box of her garden tomatos so I decided to make and can tomato sauce. Pat is a gardening genius with a huge spread of garden-- I could learn a lot from her sucess coaxing vegetables from the soil.

I combined two recipes but here is the basic recipe I relied on.

Homemade Tomato Sauce

10 lbs tomatoes, washed, cored, and chopped

3 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 tsp oregano

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

1 tsp sugar

I then added some of my own fresh basil and parsley, olive oil, and Thyme.

Just put everything into a large pot and simmer for 2 hours. Then pulse in the blender and return to heat until tickened.

Finally, coat canning jars in lemon juice and fill 3/4 full. Screw lids tightly and place in boiling water bath for 35 minutes.

Not only is this nutritious, but our house smells delicious!



A visit to the Iris Farm

Tuesday night a storm blew in. Wednesday we awoke to a wet, drizzly day not-so-perfect for a toddler who likes to play outside all day. And being cooped up in the house is not an option when that leads to his tiny, inquisitive hands finding scissors, glue, my crafting supplies, and (most recently) bottles of anti-air sickness medicine his father forgot to store in a safe place.

I remembered an ad I recently read for an iris farm nearby that stated the flowers were blooming. I LOVE irisis. They're hands-down my favorite flowers and one can never have enough in the garden. So we called ahead, hopped in the car, and went to find the iris garden.

After a long drive through the country, we pulled up into the driveway. Along the green hillsides we could see horses and a few sheep eating fresh spring grass. An older woman named Kate greeted us at the door and welcomed us to her flower haven with sprawling raised beds all over the property. The only clue to her exact age was a reference she made about a great granddaughter who has since grown.

Maddox was delighted when Kate walked us to a golf cart and chauffered us around the property to look at flowers and give us detailed descriptions of each variety. They were beautiful. Some were deep yellows, purples, and burgundy with large blooms that sparkled in the dampness. Others were multi-colored with purple or yellow blooms and white beards. A few were exotic like an orchid with speckled insides and fancy ripples.

As we made our way to the last row, the weather turned colder and the rain fell is a heavy mist. We decided to just take one variety and come back on a better day.

Kate dug in the muddy earth as I tried to shelter my little one from the rain. We raced back to the car, promising to return soon and Kate waved us goodbye.

Here's a picture of my new prize happily transplated back at home. Flowers have a way of making any rainy day a little brighter.

Green thumbs and muddy shoes

They say gardening is good for the soul. Digging in the dirt helps remind us of the good and tangible things in life. In a world run by the button-pushers and electronic messengers, sometimes it just feels good to touch something solid. 

I also think gardening is good for the child in you.

The other day after a heavy rain, I pulled on my heavy boots and took my son outside with seeds and shovels in hand. The dogs danced around us and played in the grass while we looked over our small patch of garden and debated where to plant our peas, zuchinni, cucumbers, tomatoes, and herbs. The sun felt so good after a long winter and wet, chilly start to spring.

We dug and planted for about 30 minutes, which is all a busy toddler can really handle. I carefully pushed seeds into each hole while Maddox drizzled them clumsily, spilling peas into the grass. He loves "helping" and watching his enthusiasm made me smile.

Gardens are wonderful places for children. It's a place of quiet solitude, brooding thoughts, shared times, and simple sucesses. One of the best places to grow up is in a garden where trial and error don't hurt so badly and heavy burdens can be dug deep into the ground and buried for a while.

Maddox might still be too young to remember these early times together. He may not even know that the seeds we planted are now the same peas peeking out of the ground and beginning to wind upwards, gowing and climbing to find the sun.

But what he will remember is that he and mommy were never afraid to get our hands dirty and the mud on our boots is okay, that it was earned together. 

We still haven't quite figured out the Southern growing season, but that's okay to. Last year we happily shared zuchinni muffins, zuchinni lasagna, and even breaded and baked zuchinni fries from monstrous vegetables. But that's not the only reaon why I started the garden. Sometimes the process is more important than the final product. 

Here's a video of Maddox last year helping me "water" the plants.

And just as a side story, I've decided to share an interesting article from the San Francisco Chronicle about a gardener who took over a vacant lot and turned it into a miniature farm. Urban farms are nothing new, but the city now wants the gardener to buy an expensive permit to continue sharing with the community.

Looking at the pains this gardener took to transform the plot of land, I kept thinking what a wonderful learning experience it would be for local children who visit and the benefits they receive being nourished by the fruits of her labor.

What a terrible loss if city regulations brought it all to a sudden halt.