A Garden Memory

      When I was a very young girl I would go into the garden and eat the tomatoes straight from the vine. I still enjoy fresh tomatoes. The last few summers I have been planting cherry and grape size tomatoes so I can just pop them into my mouth and eat them. The smaller size tomatoes are less messy to eat. I will still eat the larger ones the way many people will eat apples. You just have to be careful and not squirt them all over the place.

       My mother, Elizabeth Joan Bionaz Baker, told a story similar to this. Her uncle had an artichoke farm and she would sit out in the field and eat raw artichokes. She said her mouth and lips would turn black from the iron in them. Now I do enjoy artichokes, but I do not think I could eat them raw like that.