Tomatoes!!!

by L. J. Williamson

I harvested my first tomatoes this morning -- not only of the season, but of my life. Actually, I've managed to grow a few pathetic tomatoes here and there, but this year is the first time I can say I have a real crop, not just two or three stragglers that managed to avoid immediate death of my brown thumb.

Growing your own food is an amazing feeling, and the difference between homegrown and supermarket tomatoes is obvious to even the least discriminating palettes. If a supermarket tomato is a period, one from the garden is an exclamation point.

When I grow something, I feel like I'm beating the system, like I'm pulling off some major coup. They get money for these things in the store, and here I am plucking as many as I want for free, all summer long! And they're better than the ones I pay money for! Take that, Safeway!!!

Michael Pollan's excellent book The Omnivore's Dilemma has had a lasting impact on me. Pollan talks about the importance of knowing where your food comes from, and he has a point. A meal you have a connection to is that much more delicious.

If you've never grown anything before, do it now. Find some dirt, in the ground or in a pot. Stick in some seeds. Water it. What comes out will be yours, all yours. To in this small way harness the awesome power of nature is a feeling that is indescribably luscious.

| 06/27/07 | Commentary