Fresh veggies

When I was a little girl, my grandpa had the most amazing garden. I remember thinking that it was gigantic. There were rows of corn and prickly okra (which we called okrey and I recently found out that my friend, Amy grew up calling it that also) and yellow squash and pole beans and cucumbers and big boy tomatoes. He even planted strawberries . . .actually, I think my granny was the one who planted the strawberries. He always had green onions and they would serve them on the side of the beans. I've never liked raw onion so that was one that I didn't eat. My daddy always planted tomatoes and a few other things in our back yard. The first year that Mark and I were married, we planted a little garden. We had tomatoes and broccoli - I don't remember anything else! When Glenn was a little boy, he tried planting tomatoes in our back yard and we just didn't have enough sun for them to grow well. He nor Mark even like tomatoes but they thought it would be fun to grow them. I love fresh vegetables. As a matter of fact, my very first blog post came from a thought process as I was driving either to or from the farmer's market last year! See these beautiful veggies? They arrive once a week at my office courtesy of Grow Alabama (not really courtesy - I pay for them). This was last week's box. I've learned to cook all sorts of veggies - including greens which I have always HATED until this year. The strawberries have been yummy. You've never tasted lettuce until you've eaten fresh lettuce.

Last year, we participated in another program through East Lake UMC. I'm not sure if we will change back over or not. When we purchased veggies through the East Lake Farmer's Market, the minister in charge was able to purchase fresh veggies for those less fortunate. I don't know about you, but I take fresh veggies for granted. I rarely look at the price. If I want apples, I bag up apples in the grocery store or go to Costco and buy those gorgeous apples in the tray - I don't even look at the price usually. It is hard for me to imagine not having fresh fruit and veggies.

Our box comes every Wednesday and today we received several small and tender yellow squash, two zucchini, some Yukon gold (not Yukon but whatever grows in Alabama) new potatoes, some baby vidalias, some more strawberries (which I washed as soon as I walked through the door and they are all gone) and some tiny tender green beans. Produce is so good when it is picked small. For supper tonight, I put some olive oil in the skillet and stir fried the two types of squash with onions. It was delicious.

When I was describing gardens, I forgot to tell you about Dave's garden. Dave is one of the associate pastors at Trinity. He planted a garden last year and has done so again this year in a little courtyard that isn't used for anything else. He walked through the office yesterday eating fresh lettuce leaves that he picked and washed. Last year, he would pick the little tomatoes and wash them and put them in a bowl on the table in the office. Every time many of us walked by, we would pop a tiny tomato into our mouths. Delish!

So check out Grow Alabama and East Lake Farmer's Market - They are both on facebook. Both support our local farmers. Both provide nutritious and delicious fruits and veggies.