TJ and the Tomatoes by Jodi Lea Stewart

Cherokee purple heirloom tomatoes

It's Spring! Time to think about  . . . Tomatoes! How we love them. How we need them.

Need them?

Sure. I’ll prove it.

Forget all the antioxidant lycopene, the vitamins C and K, the potassium and folate packed inside these little guys . . . 

and just try to imagine a plate of spaghetti and meatballs, or Aunt Bella's best lasagna, without a delicious, red sauce *gravy, as many Italians call it*. 

Envision simply ordering pizza with a white Alfredo sauce or a cheese sauce forever.

Scary, isn't it?

Red sauce = tomatoes.

Salsa = tomatoes.

Ketchup = tomatoes.

Must I go on?

Yes, I must go on, because . . . think of it . . . nothing but tomatoes can make our green salads both juicy AND beautiful.

Since we admit we need them, what about the asphalt-tasting tomatoes we buy at the store?

First of all, don’t blame the tomatoes. They’re innocent. Tomatoes grown for commercial purposes can’t luxuriate at the Riviera in the sunshine until they are red and ready. They are harvested from the vine while still green, gassed with ethylene – which turns them pukey-pink inside – and shipped off to stores to wind up in your sauces, soups, and salads. 

They look sick and have no taste because they ARE sick.

Did Thomas Jefferson (TJ) have to tolerate crappy tasteless tomatoes?

Thomas Jefferson was indisputably the most enthusiastic gardener-president we’ve ever had in the White House. He kept a garden calendar from 1767 to 1824, and he never failed to plant his delicious tomatoes. They appeared often in the Jefferson family recipes, even though tomatoes were not widely popular at the time.

Jefferson loved tomatoes.  And he should have.

They were delicious, different “creatures” in those days.

Even most home-garden grown tomatoes and organic crops aren’t as good as the ones Thomas Jefferson produced. Why? Because TJ grew them before genetic modification. Genetic modification makes generic seeds and grocery-store vegetables:

1)      more resistant to pesticides and weed killers,

2)      easier to ship,

3)      slower to rot,

4)      tasteless . . . and of dubious nutritional value.

Fortunately, we aren't stuck with these cardboard versions of formerly delicious vegetables.

What are Heirloom Vegetables?

I found out about heirloom gardening from my mother, who found out about heirloom seeds from her sister. They had a farmer dad, you know, and it’s in their blood to know about things growing out of dirt.

Heirloom seeds are carefully harvested from strains going back thousands of years. Some descend from seeds sewn into clothes by immigrants coming to America, or from Thomas Jefferson's own garden. 

According to Jack Penman in Getting Back to America’s Roots, since these seeds evolved before the age of industrial agriculture, they often grow better under eco-friendly practices. Did you get that? They’re naturally hardy and disease resistant without chemicals.

Lucky Tiger Heirloom Tomatoes

Jere Gettle, owner of Baker Creed Heirloom Seeds, sends out two million heirloom seed packets a year and says that number is rising at about thirty percent annually. 

Who knew?

Added bonus: You can buy enough seeds to grow a crop for three years for less than ten dollars. Plus, you won’t have to reorder if you save your seeds. 

So, choosing pasty, yucky tomatoes or full-bodied delicious ones related to the ones from Thomas Jefferson's own garden is now a matter of choice.

Heirloom Vegetables in Public Display Gardens

Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott, Arizona

There are several places to see public gardens growing heirloom vegetables and flowers. Places like Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott, Arizona; Bernhard Museum Complex in Auburn, California; and Garfield Farm and Inn Museum in LaFox, Illinois, to name a few. 

Check them out! See some. Grow some! 

*****

What about you?  

Do you ever worry about the gases they use to "ripen" our fruits and vegetables? What about hybrids and genetic modification . . . scary or not scary? I'll say this, I've learned that none of us is getting out of this world alive. Therefore, our quality of life while we're here should be pretty important. Upping the quality of the food we eat may be part of seeking that higher ground.

I always love to hear from you!

*****

http://jodileastewart.com/

Jodi Lea Stewart was born in Texas to an "Okie" mom and a Texan dad. Her younger years were spent in Texas and Oklahoma; hence, she knows all about biscuits and gravy, blackberry picking, chiggers, and snipe hunting. At the age of eight, she moved to a vast cattle ranch in the White Mountains of Arizona. As a teen, she left her studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson to move to San Francisco, where she learned about peace, love, and exactly what she DIDN'T want to do with her life. Since then, Jodi graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Business Management, raised three children, worked as an electro-mechanical drafter, penned humor columns for a college periodical, wrote regional western articles, and served as managing editor of a Fortune 500 corporate newsletter. 

She is the author of a contemporary trilogy set in the Navajo Nation featuring a Navajo protagonist, as well as two historical novels. Her most recent novels are Blackberry Road and The Accidental Road. She currently resides in Arizona with her husband, her delightful 90+-year-old mother, a crazy Standard poodle named Jazz, two rescue cats, and numerous gigantic, bossy houseplants.

1956 . . .

THE ACCIDENTAL ROAD

– Historical Fiction

It’s 1956, and teenager Kat and her mother escape an abusive situation only to stumble into the epicenter of crime peddlers invading Arizona and Nevada in the 1950s. Kat is a serious girl who buries herself in novels and movies and tries to be as inconspicuous as possible. Fading into the background is impossible, however, with a beautiful social butterfly of a mother who just happens to resemble Marilyn Monroe. It’s embarrassing, and the unwanted attention her mother garners could be the downfall of their plan to take Route 66 to the freedom of a new life.

Print and eBook available on Amazon.

1934 . . . 

BLACKBERRY ROAD

– Historical Fiction

Trouble sneaks in one Oklahoma afternoon in 1934 like an oily twister. A beloved neighbor is murdered, and a single piece of evidence sends the sheriff to arrest a black man that a sharecropper’s daughter knows is innocent. Hauntingly terrifying sounds seeping from the woods lead Biddy into even deeper mysteries and despair and finally into the shocking truths of that fateful summer.

Audible, Print, and eBook available on Amazon, etc.

Painting Museum-Quality Art with Words by Jodi Lea Stewart

Why is the journey through a historical novel so different from regular reading?

Because for that brief time, YOU ARE THERE!

In the 1950s and 1960s, CBS featured Walter Cronkite narrating a history series that teachers especially fell in love with. Dramatic presentations of historical events put the listener or viewer into the scene as it happened. Before becoming a television series, the programs were heard on the radio.

What made the series brilliant and endlessly interesting was how Cronkite gave a short introduction, an announcer gave the date and the event, and then that loud proclamation, “You are there!” was heard by the audience.

Wow!

Historical events such as signing the Constitution, Joan of Arc’s dilemma, the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, the death of Cleopatra, famous fights, and legendary tragedies were dramatically reenacted.

Cronkite noted the type of day it was when the incident occurred, what else was going on in and around the famous happening, even what the weather was like. Thusly, he immersed the viewer in the tone and feeling of that particular time and event. He orally painted the picture for the audience.

Historical fiction writers paint more than pictures with their words

All writers must paint pictures with words, but historical writers have to paint museum-quality art with their words. They must depict the look, feel, smell, and concurrent events of the time era around their amazing plot. The more skillful the writer is in employing the five senses without bogging down the reader, the more successful he is at kidnapping the reader for an unforgettable journey into the past.

How do you do it? Make readers smell that apple pie cooling on a window ledge. Make them feel the rain spattering on the protagonist’s silk drop-shoulder hoop dress as she runs for shelter. Let them see the brilliant sunset beginning to bleed behind your main character as he tells his finance he is going off to war. Make readers hear that lonesome train's whistle as clouds of steam permeate the still, frosty night.

A fine line

There are joys and pitfalls to writing historical fiction. It's gloriously fun to delve into other time periods and share your findings along with your plot and characters. It can be so much fun, there is a tendency to overdo. Think about the stomachache you got from eating too much candy when you were a kid. Yikes! Too much of a good thing!

It's the same with overdoing historical facts and trivia as you write your story. It's a fine line. With so much relevant and irrelevant research the author uncovers while delving into a particular historical time and subject, he or she must not forget that the reader does not care about every detail of every piece of furniture, of every room, of every old car, of every battle, and so on. 

Don’t kill on-fire interest with trivia that pulls the reader off the main road and onto a hundred divergent trails. Use what you have garnered in research to flavor your story. Learn to “paint” a setting in a few words. Find clever ways to insert facts or feelings that work toward ushering readers into the world you are painting.

If the writer stays in the moment, so will the reader. Don’t go too crazy with details, keep the facts pure *or you’ll be found out*, and love every moment of creating something that will take readers to places they never dreamed they could go.

Then, YOU will be the one declaring, “You are there!”

***

http://jodileastewart.com/

Jodi Lea Stewart was born in Texas to an "Okie" mom and a Texan dad. Her younger years were spent in Texas and Oklahoma; hence, she knows all about biscuits and gravy, blackberry picking, chiggers, and snipe hunting. At the age of eight, she moved to a vast cattle ranch in the White Mountains of Arizona. As a teen, she left her studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson to move to San Francisco, where she learned about peace, love, and exactly what she DIDN'T want to do with her life. Since then, Jodi graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Business Management, raised three children, worked as an electro-mechanical drafter, penned humor columns for a college periodical, wrote regional western articles, and served as managing editor of a Fortune 500 corporate newsletter. 

She is the author of a contemporary trilogy set in the Navajo Nation featuring a Navajo protagonist, as well as two historical novels. Her most recent novels are Blackberry Road and The Accidental Road. She currently resides in Arizona with her husband, her delightful 90+-year-old mother, a crazy Standard poodle named Jazz, two rescue cats, and numerous gigantic, bossy houseplants.

1956 . . .

THE ACCIDENTAL ROAD

– Historical Fiction

It’s 1956, and teenager Kat and her mother escape an abusive situation only to stumble into the epicenter of crime peddlers invading Arizona and Nevada in the 1950s. Kat is a serious girl who buries herself in novels and movies and tries to be as inconspicuous as possible. Fading into the background is impossible, however, with a beautiful social butterfly of a mother who just happens to resemble Marilyn Monroe. It’s embarrassing, and the unwanted attention her mother garners could be the downfall of their plan to take Route 66 to the freedom of a new life.

Print and eBook available on Amazon.

1934 . . . 

BLACKBERRY ROAD

– Historical Fiction

Trouble sneaks in one Oklahoma afternoon in 1934 like an oily twister. A beloved neighbor is murdered, and a single piece of evidence sends the sheriff to arrest a black man that a sharecropper’s daughter knows is innocent. Hauntingly terrifying sounds seeping from the woods lead Biddy into even deeper mysteries and despair and finally into the shocking truths of that fateful summer.

Audible, Print, and eBook available on Amazon, etc.

New Release - The Accidental Road by Jodi Lea Stewart

1956…

Sixteen-year-old Katherine has two wishes in this world—to have enough money so she and her mother, Ellie, can escape her sadistic stepfather, Roy Cranston, and to eventually have a real home of her own. Katherine hides herself in novels and movies, and tries to be as inconspicuous as possible. But how can she fade into the background when she has a beautiful social butterfly of a mother who just happens to resemble Marilyn Monroe? It’s embarrassing, and the unwanted attention her mother garners could be the downfall of their plan to take Route 66 to the freedom of a new life—without Roy.

Once they put their plan into action and hit the road, they head to Las Vegas where a new life awaits. But real trouble begins when they become stranded in the small town of Holbrook, Arizona, and wind up rubbing shoulders with the mafia families that are moving their criminal operations closer to Las Vegas. It’s up to Katherine to keep them alive as they become targets of a mafia boss, as well as being followed by jealous Roy Cranston, who intends to have them back at all costs.

Could THE ACCIDENTAL ROAD bring them the life they’ve both longed for, or will it become a disaster they can’t escape from?

EXCERPT

     “I’m all angles and flat planes like an L-shaped ruler. My mother is all curves and bumps and bears a scary resemblance to Marilyn Monroe. It’s a curse, since no matter where we go, she’s like a specimen bug pinned ludicrously under a glass for males, no difference what age, to come stare at her. I’m an expert at narrowing my eyes and sending a toxic stare aimed right at their faces so we can have a modicum of peace, but that’s not what this story is about.

     “It’s about escaping a personal war and winding up in a dusty little Arizona town instead of the glittering lights of Las Vegas. Rather than safety, we found a place full of ghosts and tales, treachery and secrets. How long before we find out if we have taken the right road or the Accidental Road of life, and will we always have to hold our hands over our eyes and leap, never quite knowing where we’ll land until our feet hit the ground?”

 ~ Kat, 1956