I made some sweet memories this past weekend

So much of my weekend was comfortingly familiar and reminiscent of times gone by – I’ll get to that in a moment.

My son – my BABY – graduates from high school in just a few weeks.  Every day brings another milestone and momentous event to mark the occasion and it’s all brand new -  beginning with the Mother Son Appreciation Brunch last Friday.  M goes to an all boys Catholic school here in Seattle.  Four years ago we were told if we entrusted our sons to the school, not only would they receive an wonderful education, in the process they would be fashioned into “Men of Love.”  They had me hook, line and sinker.

Friday dawned beautiful with blue sky and while we would have settled for simply no rain, the day even promised to be warm.  Our event was at a waterfront venue where later that evening the young men would be escorting their dates to the Senior Prom.  Sort of a thanks-to-Mom-for-raising-me and a prom dry run all rolled up into one completely charming, touching and very sweet couple of hours with about 100 big burly boys treating their mother like a queen.  Not a dry eye!

Saturday the weather returned to a more customary drizzle and I was in a virtual time warp as I spent 4 hours “talking tomatoes” with buyers at the Tilth Edible Plant Sale.  A fabulous Dixi jazz band with an oompa tuba and crazy horns lent a festive air. I was soaked to the skin but on oh-so-familiar turf as I sorted flats, explained varieties and generally served as part of the tomato traffic control volunteer group.

People take their tomatoes very seriously.  Not even a steady downpour midday could dampen the enthusiasm for the huge crowds looking to buy, plant and grow their own food.  I spent the morning explaining the difference between “determinate” and “indeterminate” growth habits, tricks for protecting the young plants against our still cold weather, and describing the many different flavors to be discovered among the literally hundred or so varieties that were on the sales tables.

PLANT TALK -  spring in a nursery in a nutshell!  And for nearly 16 years this is the language I spoke every day to anyone who would listen.  The beauty part is, people who come in to nurseries really want to hear what you have to say.  My household tends to politely suffer my harrowing garden tales or nuggets of horticultural wisdom but  nursery visitors  would almost hunger for my “expertise” and we all enthusiastically traded stories, generously sharing tips and tricks.

Yep, I was back on familiar ground…soaking wet, chilled to the bone, dirty nails, tired and loving it.

Sunday, yesterday, was my book signing for Growing Your Own Vegetables at Emerald City Gardens.  For those that don’t know it, ECG sits on the site of the former Fremont Gardens, my professional home away from home for nearly 13 years.  Emerald City is passionately run by Jay and Andy and their crew of knowledgeable plants people that work harder than they ever let on.

The sun was back and the day was beautiful; the nursery was jammin’.  Oh how I remember doing that happy dance of retail on busy sunny weekend days.  Pure bliss – ridiculously hard work, but blissful all the same.  Familiar faces of former Fremont Gardens customers lined up to have their copies of Growing Your Own Vegetables signed and we tried to quickly catch up on the past 18 months in the few minutes that we had together.  I don’t know if these loyal customers can ever really know how much I appreaciated their support over the many years I had the nursery.

Friends and family came out as well to help me enjoy my day in the sun.  The following is my dedication that appears at the front of the book:

For Mom and Dad, who allowed me to dig up our backyard, plant corn, and walk away.  The weeds grew tall, but the seed for my love of gardening was sown.  I can’t remember if we got any corn. —LEF

I think with this dedication I’ve finally been forgiven creating such a mess in the back yard.  Bless their hearts, Mom and Dad live in a condo and prefer traveling, friends and other adventures than gardening.  Darned if Mom wasn’t trying to buy a whole stack of books anyway.

Shucks, everyone.  Thank you so much.

Tagged as: Encyclopedia of Country Living, growing your own food, Growing Your Own Vegetables, writing