V is for Vegetable Gardens

There was always a garden in my life. My mother grew tomatoes, peppers, peas and beans. Broccoli rabe and swiss chard also made appearances. She managed an incredible harvest in our Sayville seaside backyard, where the salty Great South Bay sprayed over the garden all summer. 

My mother-in-law also kept a garden. Her crops included vegetables I never tried before, like parsnips, rhubarb, and beets. She jarred dilly beans and enjoyed getting into the dirt. 

Matt and I garden as well. I am in charge of the herb garden where basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano, mint, chives, and sage happily grow in hap-hazard bunches next to the patio. Matt takes on the vegetables like a drill sergeant. The soil must have the perfect pH, liners must be straight and taut, and the seedling “must line up!”. He aims the sprinklers just so and has the timers for the soaker hoses set, and frets over fungus and weather reports. In the end, I ams thrilled with fresh tomatoes, peppers and eggplant seasoned with happy herbs.  

My theme for the 2022 AtoZ Blog Challenge is titled Grand Prompts To Ask Your Grands. Each day in April I will present a conversation starter/journal prompt to ask your parents, grandparents, aunts, older neighbors, co-workers, yourself…you get the idea. The questions are meant to forge connections between and within generations and inspire storytelling and journaling. 

Pray for Peace

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The Heart of Bakers and Artists

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Becoming America’s Food Stories

Hope you are hungry. Becoming America’s Food Stories recalls the tales that have been told around my family’s dinner table. The histories explain the motivations over bowls of macaroni, antics play out while slurping soup, and laughter echoes throughout the dining room. Pull up a seat. There’s always room.
The Heart of Bakers and Artists is set in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, 1911. The story follows nine-year-old Lily, an American-born child of Sicilian immigrants, who wants to prove she is not a little kid. To be a big kid in the crowded tenement neighborhoods, she must tackle bigotry, bullies, disasters, dotty bakers, and learn to cross the street by herself
The Dreams of Singers and Sluggers picks up where The Heart of Bakers and Artists left off.Lily has big dreams to sing out with her powerful voice, but must do EVERYTHING, since Mama fell into a deep depression, the baby is sick, and the “Black Hand” terrorizes the neighborhood, threatening her chance to sing at the New York Highlanders Fourth of July baseball game.
Antoinette Truglio Martin is the author of Hug Everyone You Know: A Year of Community, Courage, and Cancer. The memoir is a wimpy patient’s journey through her first year of breast cancer treatment.

6 thoughts

  1. When I first heard Victory Garden, I asked mama… I never heard it referred as such but mama always had a garden. She canned everything. We had a garden at our other house, even growing corn. Next door was a senior filled apartment snd they enjoyed when I’d go over with a basket of veggies. We can’t seem to have a garden now as the squirrels, chipmunks and occasional woodchuck help themselves!

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