Here at the Smith Homestead we grew no garden this year. After three unsuccessful years of trying our hand at gardening this shady 1/3 acre city lot and three years of unwillingly sharing our meager crop with the neighborhood squirrels, raccoons and chipmunks was enough to finally throw in the towel.
Nonetheless, we have seen an abundance of produce from our customers at The Homestead. Mike and I are humored by the ongoing competition between the local old timers. Almost daily we set produce brought to us on the long farm table for customers to not only admire but to take home, if they want. Inevitably the old farmers, coming in for their daily country ham biscuit, will begin questioning us about who brought the zucchini, peppers, or beans. Then they will proceed to grumble that the zucchini was either picked too late or too early. And they certainly would never have grown the beans to that length! Within a day or two they come in with their own garden goodies to give us to prove that their bounty is far superior to what we have on the old long farm table.
And so the growing season has gone. And we have been the grateful recipients of their attempts to win the prize as "Best Pine Grove Farmer"...I guess we are supposed to give that prize?
At any rate, I have been canning lots of banana peppers, making numerous pans of roasted veggie lasagna for friends and eating grilled vegetables like they are going out of style. Well maybe not out of style, but definitely out of season before we know it.