Chickenminnie’s Weblog

With very few exceptions I have grown vegetables every summer for more than forty years. Sometimes the “garden” has consisted of nothing more than some tomatoes in pots or a patch of dirt commandeered from friends or family, but somehow I managed to harvest something. This is likely a side effect of growing up on a farm where we had a massive garden for canning and freezing the vegetable a large family would need all winter; you can take a girl out of the farm but you can’t take the farm out of the girl.

My current garden has occupied a rectangle of my yard for twenty five years, so it is well established; the heavy clay I started with has gradually been enriched with all manner of soil amendments, not the least of which is a good supply of compost from my pile behind the barn. It has become insanely productive and careful planning means I can jam a whole lot of plants in the 14′ x 18′ space. Needless to say my garden is quite prolific but using up all those vegetables can be a challenge for one person.

My friends and neighbors are good sports about my vegetable overage and often leave from a visit with whatever I am currently picking. During Covid I instituted the “Tomato Tailgate” and spread out my excess on the tailgate of the Tacoma then notified friends on social media. It helped with rehoming a lot of produce, but a few years ago I discovered another great way of sharing my bounty without annoying my friends. For years there has been a tiny, unattended vegetable stand on the other end of my road and after driving past it dozens of times stopped one day to read the sign. It said, “Take what you want, leave what you can. Proceeds go to the food bank” with a little cash box. It was in front of a house on a double lot surrounded by vegetable gardens and there were always random vegetables in the baskets, so I assumed the owners were sharing what they could not use.

I bottled up my courage and started taking my surplus vegetables over and leaving them in the baskets. In the last few years that little stand has been a repository for countless tomatoes, cabbages, cucumbers, eggplant and bags of green beans. Sometimes I would leave bundles of kale or Swiss chard. And for years I never saw a soul until last week when I stopped with my basket of goodies. Two older gentlemen dressed in camo and looking like brothers were unloading the bucket of an ancient John Deere tractor they apparently used to carry their produce out to the road.

I was busted.

Undeterred I went up to them carrying my trug and introduced myself, telling them that I had been leaving my excess vegetables for a few years now and was grateful to have a place to unload the excess. They both laughed and said they wondered who was supplying the stand. We had a great conversation and one of the fellows told me they raised $1100.00 the previous year for the Regional Food Bank. They also told me to feel free to park in the driveway to unload instead of in the road.

Exchanges like this fill my soul and restore my faith in human generosity and I hope to be able to continue this little vegetable mission for years to come.