Really, that’s what I do. My big old-fashioned farmhouse kitchen is a place to play.

Before my husband (“the Hubster”) & I moved into my family home in Marin, we spent more years than I care to think about living in a townhouse in the East Bay. And I, at least, hated almost every minute of it. Not just the neighborhood on the edge of a ghetto, though that was reason enough for any sensible person to hate it; but OMFG, the kitchen! Less than half the size of what I have now, functionally less when you consider it was an eat-in kitchen; with a sink wide & deep enough to bathe a Golden Retriever in & about 3 feet of counter space. Outside the kitchen door, a yard with horrible clay instead of good healthy loam, that in any case was too small to hold more than a couple of flowerpots.

For someone who loves to cook, & who grew up eating home-grown, home-preserved produce, it was sheer hell. Three years ago we moved back to Marin, with all the headaches & snafus that come with a move plus a few extra ones thrown in for good measure. As we stood in our disorderly new kitchen & looked out at the neglected vegetable-garden-that-was, the Hubster asked me how I felt. All I could do was smile at him through tears & say, “Honey, I haven’t been this happy in years.”

So, here I am. Relaxing a bit after a summer of vegetable growing, fruit picking, canning, jam-making & experimenting (about which more next year, when I’m in the thick of it again).

Today’s task is dealing with the last of the tomatoes, picked just before the first rain of autumn. I grew four varieties this year, two plants each of Early Girl & Roma, one each of Sweet 100 & Gardener’s Delight. Most of the cherry tomatoes end up in salads, the Hubster’s lunchbox or the dehydrator; the full-size fruits end up in my canning jars. But what I’ve just picked isn’t enough to bother canning as whole pack, so I’ve run them through a “Roma” brand food strainer & will be making a Simple Pasta Sauce to can for this winter.