Tasting Summer

I suppose you could say I’m old fashioned.  Probably very old-fashioned.  But when it comes to vegetables, well there is simply nothing fresher or tastier than what I harvest from my garden.  That’s especially true if I’m eating  green beans an hour after I picked them, eating early potatoes an hour after I dug them, or chomping on leaf lettuce (I guess cows chomp) but it still fits what I do when I fill my mouth with lettuce that’s not been away from the garden for more than an hour.

            So this is my feasting time of the year—cucumbers, green beans, lettuce, broccoli (I know President Bush—the first the first one didn't like it, but I do); zucchini, and soon sweet corn.  And the most wonderful feast of all—a red, garden ripened tomato from a plant that I started from seed and watched grow from a scrawny little thing that looked like it might die any day to one providing me with fresh tomatoes.  I picked the first one last weekend.

            Some will remember that I wrote that to taste a fresh radish is to taste spring.  Well, to taste the first tomato, you are tasting summer in all its glory.  Nothing speaks summer louder than a home grown tomato—well maybe sweet corn for some people.  For me sweet corn comes in second, a close second, but still second.

            So welcome to the taste of summer.  And enjoy those first tomatoes of the season. 

THE OLD TIMER SAW THIS THE OTHER DAY: Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

August 3-4. Kansas City, Missouri Public TV. A Farm Story.

August 6-7, Nebraska Public TV, Lincoln, Nebraska.  A Farm Story.

August 8, Environmental Educator’s Conference, Noon. Keynote, UW-LaCrosse

August 10, 1:00 p.m., Presentation Villa Louis, Prairie du Chein.  Horse Drawn Days.

August 18, Chicago Public TV. A Farm Story.

August 24, Egg Harbor Historical Society (details to follow)

September 7, Milwaukee Public TV.  A Farm Story

September 9, Byron Historical Society, Eden Town Hall. (details to follow)

September 10, DTS Banquet talk, Deer Valley Lodge, Barneveld

September 14, Mineral Point Book Festival.

 FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING “JERRY APPS: A FARM STORY” DVD

DVD Jerry Apps: A Farm Story List $16.95 The Patterson’s price only $15.00 ($20.00 shipped)
Special Bundle Offer exclusively by the Patterson:
Tamarack River Ghost & Jerry Apps: A Farm Story – List $43.90
The Patterson’s Price Only $35.00 ($43.00 shipped)

Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division St. PO Box 305
Wild Rose, WI 54984

(All items are sold by the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library. They will accept checks or cash, they’re sorry but they don’t have any way to accept credit or debit cards, checks should be made out to the Friends of Patterson Memorial Library.