The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul. ~ Alfred Austin

I mentioned this in a post a few weeks ago, for the first time in a long time I have the opportunity to grow a garden. Sure, it’s a patio garden in containers but I’m just excited to be growing things. I’m growing a variety of herbs and vegetables but most importantly of all, I’m growing tomatoes. I’m not sure you can understand the joy I felt when I saw my first small tomatoes out there. It will be outdone only by the joy I’ll have when I bite into the first ripe tomato.

Growing tomatoes has a really deep connection and resonance with me. I’ve been gardening since I was five years old and demanded space in the family garden to grow radishes. Ever since then, whenever possible I’ve had a garden. My grandfather taught me how to grow tomatoes and roses. I didn’t really have an interest in roses but he suckered me in by pointing out the first step to growing roses was to go fishing. I did a lot of fishing as a kid. So we dug holes for the rose bushes, then we went fishing and brought back fish to throw in the holes as fertilizer, planting the roses over top of the fish. Up until his death at 90, he grew both roses and tomatoes every year.

He had a particular ritual related to the first ripe tomato every year. He would open a bottle of beer, grab his salt shaker and to quote him, “eat that tomato like an apple.” I honor him every year by following that ritual. So this little patio garden means a lot. Here are some photos of its current progress.

This weekend I had the pure joy of eating a bowl of salad purely from the garden.

It was small but it was fantastic! Have a happy day my friends. ~ Rev Kane

And a photo update, a ripening tomato, I’m so excited!