From A Tiny Kernel

Red Barn- Acrylic on canvas 9" x 12"

Each spring we grow a garden. It was something I admit not liking all that much as a youth. Mostly because I felt like my dad made us do it. The endless sweaty hours of planting and weeding and watering were torture. When it came time to pick the beans, the rows stretched on forever. Imagine my surprise that when I had my own house, I found myself actually wanting to grow a garden. I turned to my dad, the expert gardener, for advice. Never mind that I had been working the family garden plot for years, this time it was different. I was planting MY garden and I wanted to do it right. The garden plot became a thing of pride that I looked forward to each year. I showed it off to my dad and felt the satisfaction of our hard labor. Not to mention the incomparable freshness and taste of home grown veggies. Dad is gone now and my garden expert is now my older brother. He paid more attention than I did I guess and he helps me a lot. As for the actual gardening, I hear the same grumbles and excuses from my kids that I so willingly piled upon my dad. "It's too hot, it's too hard, I hate gardening!" But the kernel is planted and someday, when they have homes of their own, I just know that I'll get that phone call. The one where the voice on the other end asks "Dad, can you help me plant a garden?"

The Art of Salsa

A couple of weeks ago, I harvested our lovely tomatoes as well as many of the different peppers we grew in our garden this summer. I spent the morning peeling, slicing and dicing until I had 21 tasty pints of homemade salsa.

My 21 pints of yumminess- somebody get the chips!

I think salsa making is an art form unto itself and I think I pretty much have it down thanks to a recipe I got from my brother and sister in law. In addition to my normal mix of Anaheim and Jalapeno peppers, this year the kick to my batch was augmented by a single tiny red Serrano pepper. I added such a nice flavor element and just the right amount of heat.

Spring Plowing

Spring Plowing - Acrylic, 22" x 11"

The snow is gone and it's time to start thinking about cultivating my garden plot. Seems like more often than not, I get distracted and miss my early window for tilling. This year I hope to have the ground ready for planting by mid May. We usually grow everything from beans and squash and corn, to beets, carrots, potatoes and peppers. I grew a really sweet watermelon a couple of years back and I can already almost taste those late summer tomatoes. I am really looking forward to getting plants in the ground. Nothing like fresh grown veggies in the summer. This picture was from my picture book Spring Song, by Barbara Seuling.

Lost Art Form

The Fruits of Our Labor

Yesterday I didn't paint, but I did practice art in the form of home canning. Not many people know how to make home preserves anymore and it's becoming a lost art.  I woke up yesterday and after my run, I picked an entire bushel of tomatoes out of our garden. We have been preserving our harvest every fall for years and yesterday was one of those days. I picked, scalded, peeled and filled the jars while my wife took care of the processing. We ended up with a dozen beautiful quart jars of home grown tomatoes to use them in soups and casseroles all winter long. Some might consider this too much work for the result, but if we ever had to rely on the garden and our home storage to survive, I am glad to know we could. If you have ever eaten a home canned pear compared to one from a grocery store can, you know what I am talking about.Delicious as opposed to dreck- my kids won't touch that crunchy flavorless excuse for fruit.

Tomato Time

The garden is running away from me this fall. Too much produce and not enough time to get it all into jars. Must find a few hours to take care of the tomatoes and help make pickles. I am grateful for the productivity though, and the garden has done as well as any in previous summers. I have had the chance to work on a number of packages and labels for produce growers through my associations with California agency Ball Design Group. John Ball is great to work with and it's always fun to be waltzing down the produce aisle of the local grocery store and see your work. This is a little thing I did a couple of years back that is still floating around in the stores. It made it's way onto boxes for a number of things including the tomatoes and peppers. I always do a little fist pump when I see it, even if it only printed two inches wide and nobody else really knows or cares.