Nick Routledge@nick_routledge
The tomato, as ecumenical council. This one—its seed was originally gathered by USDA collectors in Isfahan, in 1940—is ripening now in my Oregon garden. We speak of civilizations as though they were sealed vessels. Yet the humble fruit knows better: the deeper order is one table.
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Tomato, unassuming, held in my hand.
Nick Routledge@nick_routledge · 7 Apr 2026
Though spiritual horticulture is universal, Persian gardens are distinctive in how many religious layers—pre-Islamic Zoroastrian cosmology, Islamic paradisiacal theology, and Sufi mystical interiority—they inscribe in semiotic traces visible to the cultivated eye.
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Seeding my final round of tomatoes today. Pictured here, 'Isfahan', a salad-sized tomato from Iran. Full description of its provenance, here.