Kitchen

[flbettyboop]

BOOP

[Annabellethecat66]

@flbettyboop Thanks for the smile.  My friend lives in the house he was born in.  His family owned all of the land where I now live.  He lives about 1/3 mile from me.

Anyway, he has an amazing garden every year.  It gets more difficult for him because as he gets older (he's 71 my age) his wife has to be the one on her knees planting.  He has all of the heavy equipment, so that makes it a little easier.

He's putting in over 300 tomato plants alone this year.  He grows them from seeds!  You name the vegetable, he grows it.

I live on his tomatoes.  I love, love good tomatoes and his are the best I've ever had.  It's always been a joke in my family that I've always said, "When I die put on my tombstone, "Here lies Linda...she loved a good tomato".  Ha!

Farmers work so hard.  I think you have to love growing things to be a farmer (even if it's a few plants).  I so admire them.

I used to grow some vegetables when I was younger.  I planted them in front of my house (like a flower garden).  I mixed in flowers so it looked pretty and many people never realized it was actually a vegetable garden.

When I visited my daughter recently in Denver, she took me out on her front porch.  A tiny thing with planters hanging on the railing.  She is growing tomatoes, several vegetables, a lot of spices and has mixed in (like I taught her) flowers.  Zinnias, etc.  They draw the bees for pollinating and keep away the varmits who like to eat the vegetables.  

Can you believe she actually pollinates her own plants?  I taught her how to do it (so easy).  It works really well but I can't take credit, she's better than I am at it.

I hope you are able to get your garden going.  I think you'll be good at it.  You seem to care and that's the most important ingredient.

[Annabellethecat66]

This is kinda different but similar.....So I recently returned from visiting my daughter in Denver.

One of my favorite things to do (and her's....hey!  She's my kid), is to talk to the waiters.

We met a young, extremely attractive young man on my second day there.  I told him I was from Va and he said he was from Idaho (I believe that's the state).  He said his family had been farmers for many generations.

He said it was very hard work.  He said he and his siblings would be out of the house (before school) at 5:00AM feeding the animals, sometimes working in the fields.  All of this BEFORE they left for school.

He said, of his 4 siblings, he was the only one to move and come to Colorado.  He said living in Colorado (where it's all about the outdoors) would allow him to love being outdoors, yet he didn't have to work hard like the farmers (and his siblings) were doing.

He said people have no idea how hard farmers work.  How they are at the mercy of the weather.  We asked him if he was ever going to go back to the farm and he didn't hesitate before he said, "No way"!

We asked him what primarily his family grew and he said corn.  He said corn is the basis for many things and they make a pretty good living from it.

While I'm glad there are people who are still willing to work so hard day in and day out, I'm glad I don't have to do it.

I also respect and am so grateful that there are people who do it.

So, to all you 'farmers' here (because no matter how small your garden is, I think you're still farmers) I salute you and appreciate the fact that you care and take the time to grow your food (and flowers, I like flowers too).