Digging up a long-neglected corner of my San Francisco garden a few weeks ago, I came across what look like the skeleton bulbs of garlic or some other lily relative, the skins and flesh gone, only the reinforcing cellulose fibers left behind.
They reminded me of a garden find I made one spring about twenty years ago, after I'd grown a couple of crazily prolific purple tomatillo plants. The winter had had its slow way with some stray tomatillos, etching away all but the veins of their papery outer husks and in some cases the flesh within, leaving just the seeds to rattle around. The remnants made an absorbing anatomy lesson, an image of the passing pleasures and durable purpose of fruits.
I've been neglecting this blog as I have my garden, and for many of the same reasons. But I'm starting to work both again. There's plenty to unearth and cultivate and share.