I saw these calves out of the fence this morning. And I just felt like I needed to tell someone. It seemed like the responsible thing to do. So I’m tell you since I don’t know who owns these cows. In fact, I don’t even know anybody that lives on the road where I saw them. I didn’t grow up in this town.
I imagine that whoever owns the cows will take care of the situation. Promptly. It might be a nuisance to have to stop what they are in the middle of doing and go try to round up loose calves. But this is probably not their first rodeo. And they’ll probably get the cows back in the fence and mend the fence right away.
This wasn’t the last time I caught these two yearlings out of the fence.
Things like that get taken care of quickly on the farm. I doubt there will be a meeting with all of the department heads to see whether it is a real problem or not and who will take responsibility. Or follow up departmental meetings to see who will be assigned to an interdepartmental special task force team. And no third meeting with the reluctantly volunteered staff to develop a plan of action. I bet just one man and a sack of feed took care of this issue.
Not all problems are this simple. Yet I am afraid that we often make a more complicated solution for problems that are even less important than cows being out.
“Don’t leave your window down when you go to the Warehouse Discount Grocery. Somebody is liable to put a sack of zucchini in your car.”
As many of you know, I was volunteered to grow a garden this Spring. It’s been doing pretty good. Except my zucchini. They’re out of control. I’d like to share a few of my tips for getting rid of zucchini.
1. Take it to Church.
People at church have a hard time saying no. Even if they don’t like zucchini, they will smile and be nice. This is a good place to get rid of zucchini. Problems can arise though. People will start to notice you bringing in a grocery sack full of zucchini and they may start to avoid you.
2. Covert Charity
Before you start to lose friends at church, I suggest getting rid of zucchini through random acts of kindness. Nothing makes a thing so fun as knowing you’re not supposed to be doing it. Putting a sack of zucchini in someone’s car without getting caught is one of the most thrilling things about gardening.
You can also set a sack of produce on someone’s door step in the middle of the night. The danger in this is they may use a different door and might not discover the zucchini until they have turned bad-the zucchini, not the people. (I could have reworded that sentence to make it more clear, but I’m feeling rebellious today.) That is the paradox of gardening: you grow things you don’t particularly like and you don’t want them to be wasted.
A sack of Zucchini on it’s way to an unsuspecting family’s doorstep.
3. Sell It.
It is possible to sell your vegetables. You can put up a little booth in your front yard with a hand painted sign that may say something like, “Fresh Vegetables For Sale”. The font should be a bit shaky, similar to the “E995” signs you see for people selling cackle-fruits. That way people know you are genuine country folks and are therefore trustworthy. You may get more traffic if you misspell zucchini. The problem with a booth is you have to always be home to make the transaction, and you may end up having a lot more conversations than you are prepared to have. You would probably have to rely on the honor system.
The other option is to sell your vegetables at the Farmer’s Market. You need the right salesman though. No one wants to buy vegetables from a guy in his early thirties. You need an older man in overalls that is prone to falling asleep in his lawn chair as your sales rep. Or a cute little kid.
4. Eat It.
This is a last ditch effort to get rid of zucchini. I’ve listed a few creative ways to serve zucchini because you can only eat so much zucchini bread before needing to go up a pant size. I can provide recipes for the sincerely interested, but I cannot guarantee that the finished product will be edible.
Zucchini Au Gratin
Zucchini Ice Cream
Zucchini Pie
Zucchini Pizza Crust
Zucchini Ricota turnovers
Zucchini Pesto Patato Salad
Zucchini Baked Potatoes
Zucchini & Sausage Omelettes
Zucchini Tacos
Zucchini Soup
Zucchini Fricassee
Now I made up most of those recipes on the spot. Aside from zucchini ice cream most of those sound pretty appetizing. The key to eating zucchini is using a little creativity. If you have 4o lbs of zucchini you won’t be upset if one or two recipes turn out to be a dud.
Anyway, I hope your garden is growing well. If you don’t have a garden I hope your neighbor’s is doing well. If you don’t have any neighbors…just come to church with me. I’ll bring you some zucchini.
Mostly From Memory 