“I was born in Gizzeria, in the
province of Catanzaro. I remember
learning gardening by helping my
mother in our orto, or small garden,
when I was a little child. We had a
small garden near our home and
another piece of land about an hour
from the town where we grew wheat,
olives, figs, potatoes, tomatoes- what we grew was what we ate.
“When I came to Australia I kept
gardening because I liked it. I taught
my husband, and whenever I plant
seeds or trim trees in my garden
I watch the moon.
“The same things that are
beautiful to cook are beautiful to
grow. I grow eggplants, tomatoes,
beans and basil and then I cook
them. The taste of home-grown
is completely different.
“I grow lots of things: broccoli,
lettuce, cucumber, spinach, broad
beans and herbs – everything I put in
the garden grows but never zucchini.
Then I have my fruit trees: prickly
pear, avocado, fig, mango, mulberry,
mandarin, orange, plum, persimmon,
coffee, lemons and grapes.
“I love my mangoes, I have two
trees and each year I take more than
50 mangoes. I have a very special
avocado tree, too. It makes avocados
that weigh more than 600 grams,
sometimes even 900 grams. It’s
been in my garden for more than
50 years. My coffee plants grow so
much coffee. I dry the beans in the
sun, then take off the skins and roast
the beans myself.”
NONNA TOMASINA
Concord, NSW76 GOURMET TRAVELLER
PHOTOGRAPHY WILL HORNER & JOHN PAUL URIZAR (ROBERTSON)