Leaf’s guide to

I have dealt with skin problems my whole life. When I was a baby I had rashes on my face and my mom took me to the Chinese herbal doctor. She gave me a cream which resolved the rash and she told my mom, this kind of skin problem means that they will “grow up to be really smart". I’m paraphrasing here because I was just a baby and don’t actually remember, but my mom manages to tell me the story most times my skin problems come up. It’s nice to think that there’s a benefit to being in such discomfort, that my knowledge-seeking brain makes up for the way my skin reacts and is sensitive to it’s surroundings.

It is a curious little shop that transports you to another time and place with sensory magic. The smell of incense and vintage jazz playing on a record player, racks of vintage clothes and kitchen wear, displays of brass, ceramic and wood curiosities. The shop is lit throughout by sculptural lamps of paper and linen. As we chatted, Sheri showed me around the back area of the store where she reupholsters furniture on a work bench makes jewelry out of metal, feathers and bones.

Finally today was the day I set aside to process all the tomatoes. Waking up in the morning, I already knew that each task that day would feel like a struggle. A struggle to finish the chores and the tasks so that I could just lay down. Amidst the folding of laundry, washing of dishes, taking of shower—my usual day off tasks—I applied myself to the tomatoes.