A piece of my heart is planted in Washington. I was born and raised in the Upper Left, and despite living as far away from it as the continental U.S. allows, I still feel the pull of the Columbia River, the Cascade Mountains, and the smell of a cherry blossom spring. The land up there is special....

Winter has fully settled into my garden. The stalks are brown, and the ones that aren’t crisp are slowly turning into leaf mold on the ground. Each time I pass up my front steps I can feel the crinkled marigolds looking at me, reminding me that despite its drab appearance, the garden is far from ...