I know you have seen those commercials for Ancestry.com, the one with the little leaves.

A few years ago I found one branch of my family where a Keith (grandfather’s maternal line) married a Randolph.  Thomas Jefferson’s mother was Jane Randolph.  She is my first cousin and Jefferson is my second.  It’s exciting to me because I love history.  Jefferson, despite all his human flaws is who we are as a nation.  But he was a person before an architect, a writer and a scholar. He had arthritis so bad; he couldn’t sit in his later years.  He had a garden pharmacy that helped with his various ailments.  French lavender for the disorders of the head, thyme for the stomach, peppers for arthritis.

I have always admired people who grow their own food. I don’t try and out-do them.  It is a talent to nurture a garden and I defer to Farmers markets, as they have perfected it. I don’t believe it is something that can be taught. You either have it or you don’t. One year when Dylan was little we grew cucumbers and tomatoes. It was a teaching moment we still laugh about. Our cucumbers were huge and soggy, because I have a black thumb.

This is the time of year when people bring you those extra tomatoes, squash and cucumbers. Good for me and them, as gardening is confusing.  One plant needs a certain fertilizer, shade, and dirt and forget about drainage.  It’s too much. Maybe when I’m a little older, I’ll try another vegetable garden, but honestly I think that gene skipped my generation!

Look at your thumb.  Is it green or black?