As a young child I was plucked from fertile Iowan gardens and shipped off with my family to Hong Kong. I wouldn't have traded those experiences for the world, but my exposure to plants was limited to thick jungles with taro and giant spiders and cobras and giant mosquitos and potted bouganvillea. Then I headed off to university (where my exposure to plants/herbs was, well, nevermind that...) and then to NYC for a few years. When I moved to CA to rejoin my family, I bought roses, I potted tomatoes, I commandeered corners of friends' gardens... and yet the heat and stress often left my green thumb holding brown wilties. Nothing prepared me for the flourish that has been my welcome to WA/OR. 6 year old heirloom seeds from Mt. Vernon that I thought were spent, wobbly seedlings long overdue in the ground... a garden planted as soon as we moved in...late...like end of June late... has flourished thick and fabulous. If this is a portent of the years to come, retire my suitcase... I am home. And to those of you who advised me as I debated leaving behind a rarely fruiting olive tree... and assured me that it would be ok.... it is. Indeed, it is. :)

Cheers! Meghan