Southerners are the givin’est bunch of people you’ll ever meet. Anytime we visit one another, we always want to “take a little something.” And even though the “little” is often quite small, it’s truly the thought that counts. Unless of course, it’s zucchini.
No one wants to look out their window and see you coming down the drive with a mess of the overplanted, overabundant and greatly underused squash.
National Sneak Some Zucchini on your Neighbor’s Porch Day is observed August 8th, although here in Alabama, Zucchini season comes early and we start piling up the abundant vegetable in July. Why we plant so much when we know we can’t possibly eat it all is just another quirk in our long line of agriculture heritage. It’s like being able to name and cook 453 dishes that come from a pig. It’s just something ingrained in our DNA that happens without thinking.
Zucchini itself is a fine, if not tasty food, but when you have to cook it 40 times a week — because we’ve also been taught by our frugal ancestors not to waste anything for fear of slipping into another Great Depression and having to go to work for the TVA, it becomes a heavy burden. The summer of ’84, was a particularly prolific year for zucchini, Mama used . . . click HERE to finish reading the story at al.com.
So funny! I have never planted any zucchini because of the generosity of my neighbors. I rather like it now and then, but certainly not enough to have to devise all sorts of torture methods for my friends and neighbors. Right now, it’s the basil gone crazy. Prior to this year it was the rosemary before Ray gave it a mercy killing. Yet, it has surfaced again… just like the second coming. The oregano is taking over as a ground cover, competing with the morning glories for what can spread the quickest, and if we could just get those tomatoes on board, it would be all good. Our neighbors probably think we are the Beverly Hillbillies with that peach tree with two belts covered in duct tape smack dab in the middle of the front yard.
I’m obsessed with your peach tree and think about it throughout the day. And I’m with you on the basil and oregano taking over the world this year. Pizza for everyone, coming soon!
I loved the bit about when your mom made zucchini cookies…too hilarious! Why is it that we must unload food we can’t eat or don’t want on others? Great zucchini stories!!
The cookie part was totally true – except I knew she meant it as a form of love. Probably. I hope.
Thanks Jenna.
One of our Rotarians from one the Great Lakes states advised me that where he came from, when you drove into town on Saturday, you had to be careful to lock your car and leave all the windows rolled up. If you didn’t, you were liable to come back and find it filled with zucchini.
My younger brothers, who all had Washington Post paper routes, were required to collect the subscription fees in person (thank goodness that torture is no longer practiced). One year when Dad’s intentionally unambitious garden had produced a bumper crop of zucchini, they distributed it to their customers when they went to collect (the same way they took the newspaper-provided calendars at Christmastime) and found that it garnered extra tips.
Another Rotary story: One of the primary reasons the Rotary Club of Fairhope left the Fairhope Yacht Club for Homestead Village was that the FYC cook served zucchini (in some form or other) at every single Rotary lunch for months on end, and the members finally revolted.
Very funny! People don’t realize how good it is . . . once or twice a month.
Oh…you little rascal. What a great story! Trust me if there is anyone out there who has made the mistake of putting more than ONE plant in their garden, they are laughing with you and possibly their neighbors too.
I have definitely had all I want for one summer.
Enjoy! There’s more to come, I’m sure.
Oh, I love to see my neighbors headed my way with fresh veggies. Zucchini everything is good here
Be careful what you say, or else you’ll wake up to a mountain of it!
Thanks for reading Nancy and happy Zucchini eating to you!