Just one heirloom tomato survived the past week of record breaking low temperatures in Tampa. One. Of twenty tomato plants, assorted herbs, onions, peppers, green beans, broccoli, turnip greens and rhubarb, the winner is a precious heirloom tomato which grew from seed from a tomato brought back from Granny's garden in Michigan. Figures a Michigan tomato would survive a hard frost in Florida. I'll savor every bite of this tomato, minus the seeds, which I'll dry and plant next week. Sure, some of the herbs will bounce back, the onions were planted deep enough to possibly survive, and the rhubarb is showing some promise, but, by and large, the garden is kaput. For now, I'll be pulling frost-bitten remainders from a garden which has fed me, my neighbors and friends since before Halloween. I look forward to new beginnings: the smell of fresh rich soil, the anticipation of watching seedlings peek out to greet and tease the sun, the early starting of my days by picking beans under moonlit mornings and the careful watch of cardinals, the satisfying ache in my lower-back and calves from working hard, and the potential of delicious, home grown food on my plate.
The frost is gone and life goes on.
