Friday, October 11, 2013 – How to Stuff a Wild Zucchini
Laurence and I just carried two cudgel-sized zucchinis into the house. We just got home from visiting friends of ours, the Smiths, who live in the country outside of Massey. Rhonda says they’ve had a “plague of zucchinis” this year. I said to her, “There is no such thing as too much zucchini “– and then she showed me the pile that she and Charlie have picked thus far, and encouraged us to take home as many as we’d like. I should take these green weighty things to Body Pump, just to show off!
The Smiths have a wonderful farm. A house that’s over 100 years old (and gently haunted,) a number of out-buildings, a border collie mix, a quantity of cats, a herd of cows and heifers, and two ornamental horses. The horses are actually flesh and blood; they just don’t do anything except hang out and look beautiful. It truly is a wonderful place.
And it’s funny how one’s “place in the sun” can change in a matter of a few hours. Some 25 years ago, Laur and I were interested in buying a little house with a patch of land just outside of Wanup. Sadly (or maybe not) it sold out before we got to go for our second look, prior to our making an offer. If things had gone in that direction, Laur and I would still likely be living there and I’d have planted a garden – because that’s what you do on a hobby farm. We’d have a few “spent” hens running around laying eggs. We’d surely have a bunch of old fixed cats and a couple of mutts. And we’d have a geriatric horse or two.
Our kids’ lives might have been very different – certainly their home life might have been, because if they’d chosen some farm “pets,” they’d have to look after them. Tom’s social life would have been curtailed dramatically, and most of our kids would have learned to drive by the time they finished high school. That or spend their weekends with us.
Because the house in Wanup was small, Laur and I would not be planning on moving once the kids left home. We would find city living intolerable, and the thought of moving to Southern Ontario on retirement – and spending winters in Arizona - might never have entered our minds.
But the Wanup house sold, this house is too big, none of our kids will be staying in Northern Ontario, and we have the freedom to winter in Lazy AZ (until one of us develops a health problem.)
AND we now have – in spite of being city-slickers – zucchinis the size or turkeys. Hmm… Thanksgiving is coming up – we both love “stuffing,” but we’re vegans. Que faire? Make stuffing, stuff the zucchinis, bake, and enjoy. Yes, we are likely to have lots of leftovers, since we’re the only ones who will eat this, so we’ll just follow the example of turkey fans.
Mind you by the fifth day of zucchini sandwiches, zucchini soup, zucchini pot pie and zucchini casserole, I might be inclined to agree with Rhonda about having a “plague of zucchini.”
The Smiths have a wonderful farm. A house that’s over 100 years old (and gently haunted,) a number of out-buildings, a border collie mix, a quantity of cats, a herd of cows and heifers, and two ornamental horses. The horses are actually flesh and blood; they just don’t do anything except hang out and look beautiful. It truly is a wonderful place.
And it’s funny how one’s “place in the sun” can change in a matter of a few hours. Some 25 years ago, Laur and I were interested in buying a little house with a patch of land just outside of Wanup. Sadly (or maybe not) it sold out before we got to go for our second look, prior to our making an offer. If things had gone in that direction, Laur and I would still likely be living there and I’d have planted a garden – because that’s what you do on a hobby farm. We’d have a few “spent” hens running around laying eggs. We’d surely have a bunch of old fixed cats and a couple of mutts. And we’d have a geriatric horse or two.
Our kids’ lives might have been very different – certainly their home life might have been, because if they’d chosen some farm “pets,” they’d have to look after them. Tom’s social life would have been curtailed dramatically, and most of our kids would have learned to drive by the time they finished high school. That or spend their weekends with us.
Because the house in Wanup was small, Laur and I would not be planning on moving once the kids left home. We would find city living intolerable, and the thought of moving to Southern Ontario on retirement – and spending winters in Arizona - might never have entered our minds.
But the Wanup house sold, this house is too big, none of our kids will be staying in Northern Ontario, and we have the freedom to winter in Lazy AZ (until one of us develops a health problem.)
AND we now have – in spite of being city-slickers – zucchinis the size or turkeys. Hmm… Thanksgiving is coming up – we both love “stuffing,” but we’re vegans. Que faire? Make stuffing, stuff the zucchinis, bake, and enjoy. Yes, we are likely to have lots of leftovers, since we’re the only ones who will eat this, so we’ll just follow the example of turkey fans.
Mind you by the fifth day of zucchini sandwiches, zucchini soup, zucchini pot pie and zucchini casserole, I might be inclined to agree with Rhonda about having a “plague of zucchini.”