Koda in her back yard domain on August 5, enjoying a beautiful day

I am to be on a (roughly) monthly schedule for adding to my blog. This one is being written with a very heavy heart. Yesterday morning - December 11 - we took our dear, sweet dog Koda to the vet. He’s endured a few rough weeks, clearly experiencing ever increasing pain, growing much worse the past few days. Sadly, an X Ray revealed a tumor in his neck area near his spine. With a very poor prognosis, we made the incredibly painful decision to say goodbye to him them, and were with him when he left the world. That is all I can bring myself to say at the moment - I am already working on a blog that will serve as a special memorial to a truly magnificent dog that we rescued in 2018. Our time with him was far too short and our pack is missing one of its most important members. In a very odd coincidence, it was December 11 in 2017 that we had to bid farewell to our beloved chocolate lab Mocha. I wrote that goodbye in the blog found here.

One of the countless lit trees for the holiday event at the NC Arboretum, from a visit last week

Now, on to happier topics. Here is some info on a few early 2025 events that I will be participating in.

On Thursday January 16, at 8 PM eastern I will be doing a Zoom workshop for the Master Gardeners of Greater Kansas City, focusing on many aspects of tomatoes. It is a free event, open to people beyond the local KC area - but you must register. Information regarding the event and the registration link can be found here.

On Saturday January 25, from noon to 3 PM I will be at Sow True Seeds, 243 Haywood Street in downtown Asheville NC. I will be signing copies of my books purchased at Sow True and answering your gardening questions. I hope to have some packets of seeds from some of my tomato breeding projects to give away as well.

Finally, on Tuesday February 22 I will be presenting 2 talks for the Joy of Gardening Symposium hosted by the York County Master Gardeners in Richburg, SC. Click here to register for this event. I will be speaking on tomatoes in the morning, and Container and Straw Bale gardening, as well as the Dwarf Tomato Project, in the afternoon. The program can be found here.

As to my current gardening activities - I am just starting to plan my 2025 garden, on the cusp of starting to fulfill seed requests, and once those two things are complete, dive in to writing the book on the Dwarf Tomato Breeding Project (really!).