Her name was Lena, what I know of the facts of her life would fit onto the head of a pin with room left over.
Born somewhere in Italy her teens were marked by the reign of Mussolini and World War 2. Her stories of this feat of survival are unknown to me, I know only that at the end of the war she married an American Serviceman named Howard and came to live her life in this foreign place with its foreign language that was also the hometown of her new husband. They bought, settled in, and lived some 50 years in the small house I now call home.
Among the things she brought with her from her former home were a few special treasures. Some walnuts from the tree that grew in the back yard of her parents home, a few cloves of garlic, a start of oregano, and some Tomato seeds.
The people who knew her described her as tiny and kind. She never did quite master English, her accent was heavy and her speech broken by the need to stop and try to find the correct word. All say she was an amazing cook who shared the food she had generously with all. She also loved to garden and passed many of her days in yard tending her to the plants. She was good with plants, she also generously shared them with her neighbors. Smaller versions of my large old plants are in nearly every yard within walking distance of here. She died at age 90 only one month after her husband.
I knew none of this when I purchased the small house. I was looking for a bargain in a good neighborhood with a big tree in the front or back yard, a front porch and a basement or garage where I could work on my art. This one had all of that and I considered it to be a steal. As winter approached I settled happily into my new little home giving little thought to its past.
I had been a farmer in a rural area most of my life, worn from the hard work and 24 hour a day, 7 day a week, 365 day a year responsibility of farm life. Crushed by the grief caused by the death of someone close to me I looked forward to being a city girl and closing the door on my former life.
As spring began to arrive I began to clean the long neglected garden beds on the south side of my house. As I pulled the clumps of grass and dandelions my nose detected the smell of garlic. I looked closer and spotted the emerging garlic sprouts, even in their beginning stages they were giants. My desire just to be a city girl who picked up her produce at the supermarket wavered at the sight. I decided garlic would make a nice addition to the flower bed I planned to put there. That was the beginning.
I meant to put down weed block and some bark on the newly cleaned area, but my curiosity was now high gear and I decided to wait and see what else the ground had to offer.
The weather warmed and I was rewarded with eight tiny tomato plants. This being the Pacific Northwest, the likelihood of these plants ever produce was slim, but I didn't care. I was after all a city girl now, I could always walk to the supermarket and buy tomatoes.
In the next months the plants grew to enormous size, I was thrilled. By mid July tiny fruit had appeared. Disappointment set in when I saw the elongated egg shape of a paste tomato. My experience taught me that their chance of ripening was near zero. As the summer wore on my prolific crop of little green tomatoes became larger. As September rolled in I was wealthy in smallish red fruit. I began to think I should do something with them. I decided on Spaghetti sauce.
For several evenings I searched the web for a recipe that was simple but made a large batch for freezing. I found many recipes but not what I was looking for. It was a few days later as I worked on demolishing my south kitchen wall to make room for a greenhouse window that I pulled a piece of the plywood wainscoting off. A piece of paper fluttered to the floor, curious, I picked it up to read. In spidery but beautiful handwriting was a spaghetti sauce recipe very close to the one I had been looking for.
Many years have passed since that day. As I write this I sit beneath the spreading umbrella of the stately walnut tree planted so long ago from a nut, listening to the many birds, that have their nests there, chirp out their songs. The set this year is very good, soon I and my neighbors both human and squirrel will have our winters supply.
In the south yard Lena's Tomatoes, seeds now carefully saved each fall and started in the greenhouse window each winter, are covered with fruit. The giant sharp flavored garlic are almost ready to harvest. They are joined by many other vegetable plants that will be enough to feed me and help out several others.
Fruit trees, berry plants, kiwi and grape vines round out the collection, along with beds of quinoa, and Durham wheat. Come spring I am thinking of adding a couple of chickens and maybe a beehive.
I realize I am a farmer once again, thanks to Lena and her garden, life is good. As I tend my gardens I think of her, it is as if her spirit lives on in the plants she left in my care.
Here is the recipe for Spaghetti sauce that fell from the wall. I have made a few alterations to fit the busy life of someone with a full time job and a urban farm to run. Enjoy it with the blessings of Lena and I.
Lenas Spaghetti Sauce
10 lbs. Paste Tomatoes
4 1/2 cups chopped sweet onions
3 large cloves garlic
4 bay leaves
1 1/2 t dried oregano
1 T canning salt
1 t black pepper
1 T dried parsley
3T olive oil
Quarter Tomatoes add a small amount of water and cook until skins seperate from flesh. Put through a food mill. In olive oil saute onions and garlic until onions are traslucent. Place tomato pulp and onion mixture in a crock pot add other ingrediants, put on lid turn on high until mixture begins to bubble turn down to low and cook 6 hours check thickness if it is not yet thick enough turn back on high, take off lid and cook until it reaches desired thickness.
Cool and either freeze or process pints in a boiling water bath for 30 minutes.
To make the best sauce make this sauce as soon as possible after picking tomatoes. I like to pick mine and process them less than an hour later. People think my secret ingrediant is sugar the sauce has such a sweet flavor.
You can also use regular round tomatoes, there will be much more water to cook out. If you do this continue to cook the quartered tomatoes until about a half of the water has boiled off before putting through the strainer.