Raised in Spokane as part of an Italian-Greek family, Jackie Cross had grown up embracing both her cultural heritage as well as the lush agricultural traditions of eastern Washington. Her mother was an avid gardener and her grandparents instilled in her a love and appreciation for the outdoors and the inimitable value of home-grown herbs and vegetables. 

“My Italian grandmother, who had homesteaded in Northern Idaho, had a very large kitchen garden behind her house in Browne’s Addition in Spokane,” Cross wrote in a blog post. “My Greek grandfather’s tomatoes in Warden, Wash., were famous for their vigorous growth and sheer abundance. I had been nurtured by all these wonderful gardeners and was a successful gardener myself.”