Stephenson Family Ties

is for zucchini


Look at that!!! Even in the early 70's zucchini took over gardens and grew out of control!! Imagine that- Once a super food, always a super food. And yes, that is my little brother and I, poising for pictures with mega veggies. This is when we lived in Silver Spring, Maryland. This was a great neighborhood and a very distinctive home. We had a very large yard and large trees with lots of grass to mow, and a city park right next door.
Its strange what a person will remember about a time and place of their childhood. I have lots of memories surrounding this house. But because this is "z" day,(Im done, Im done, Im done with the alphabet!!) Im going to write a little about this garden in Maryland. My folks became gardening enthusiast at this time in their lives. They must have been in their late 40's,(My age) I remember seed catalogs and books on the table. They started a compost heap, that was stirred and and turned and had garbage and yard refuse dropped on it often. For my dad this pile was a science project. For mom it was probably a good way to practice being a little 'green.' Fresh food was/is always appreciated in our home and the garden produced delicious, homegrown food, plus being a great excuse to be outdoors. They must have had decent success-thus the huge zucchinis!!
The only other vivid memories I have of that garden would be that it was located behind the garage and I believe it was an additional piece of property that my folks purchased as a second thought. Lastly, I remember they battled frequently with a bug problem. The Japanese Beetle to be exact. It was a beautiful bug-metallic blues and greens on its 'shell' and wings. My folks bought traps and would catch quart sized buckets full of them!!It was both 'gross' and fascinating at the same time!! Ahh.. the memories.
I bet everybody has a favorite zucchini memory or antidote!!