An Unexpected Oasis...

 

One morning, along my route to one of our garages (notice the red and white sculpture that is in front of it) during my workday, i ran across a fairly large vegetable garden. .....Wait.....VEGETABLE GARDEN?! What's THAT doing in the middle of Downtown Toledo?

Walking through the mulched walkways across the garden, i saw cabbage, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, even Sunflowers and Marigolds around the border.  

 

 Located in completely direct sun (which is what veggies love) in one of our hottest summers we've had in a while, everything still looked healthy, clean and well watered.

 Rounding a corner, I ran across a sign - oh-oh, probably says, "NO TRESPASSING - OR WE LET THE HOUNDS LOOSE!"

  

 ...But that was NOT what the sign said. It was cute and friendly and even informed me I could TAKE something if i wanted to! What an awesome surprise on a mundane work day!

So thank you to the United Way and Toledo GROWS, and if no one else appreciates your efforts, i really do! i already have harvested a couple of tomatoes from it (i may have to prune a few of those large squash leaves to cast, too), and plan to use part of my lunch hour one day to pull a few weeds in appreciation =-)



Can Or Can Not?

When i was young , i was spoiled when it came to veggies. Not spoiled by the usual definition, such as i got whatever i wanted and had access to all the types and varieties. No, i mean "spoiled" meaning my love for decent vegetables was spoiled forever because of the processed, canned junk my mother always served. Now, she seasoned everything well, i could never complain, i pretty much liked her cooking (except for those hideous potato pancakes! Blech!), but it was only after i left that house that i realized that all fruits and vegetables could be grown and eaten FRESH. Except for tomatoes, sweet corn, and watermelon, which are plentiful in our area in their just picked form at all the little roadside stands every summer, i pretty much had canned veggies all the time.

 Generally, even to this day, i prefer canned over fresh. i have taught myself to like fresh snap beans (fried in bacon grease, leeks and/or onions! mmmm), and i'm just beginning to appreciate fresh asparagus, but really not much else.

i was not even aware of home canning till my MIL showed me how. Still, freshly canned beets or pickles?

 Naw. i would rather eat out of those ubiquitous cans and jars at the grocery store. i don't really like peas, but if i do eat them, they're canned. i have even grown my own and could not get used to the taste (too much trouble shucking them, too!).

Don't worry ~ i've adapted, but if you see my garden and wonder why it's not more diverse, well...