Wake me up, I don't want to miss a thing Part 2

So for those first few years, I stayed with growing lots of plants that were easy and the seed was sown right in the ground. Talk about fast gratification! Those Sunflowers, pumpkins, Morning Glories ( don't you just love that name?) and Cockscomb nearly jumped from the ground with growth. The garden was beautiful and I was childishly happy.

But then I took the Master Gardeners course! Boy, did that start trouble...every Monday hanging out with 40 exuberant people passionate about their gardens, listening to what kind of "such and such" this one grew and "did I see the photos that so and so brought in to class?" I was all ears !
This was Heaven, and they were speaking my language!
So from all of this wonderful excitement, as my first community project, I accepted designing and installing an Heirloom Vegetable garden at a local Homestead museum circa 1860-1900.

Now, you have to know the women in my family to truly appreciate this. We are the "grow your own Summac, to dye the wool  from the sheep you raised, to knit the mittens to keep your hands warm in case it gets chilly" type of ladies.

So, the garden was to emulate a vegetable garden that a family from that period would raise, to help feed themselves. The seeds for the museum garden were selected from specialty catalogues and grown for us by a local grower with greenhouses. Also, donations were received from local Organic farms. The project was well underway.
Which started me thinking..."Why don't I turn MY garden into a vegetable garden? I could start my own flats of veggies"
"Great idea!"  Not thinking...."Wow, that is going to be a LOT of work!" Two large gardens....

5 kinds of lettuce,4 kinds of tomatoes, two of beets, two of carrots, three of peppers ,eggplants, Swiss chard..you get the idea...did I mention the herb circle? Did you know Bronze Fennel can get as tall as a bush?? But not to worry...any square stemmed (invasive) mints and such went into pots! Even I knew that much.

Everywhere I went I carried produce with me. My car always had baskets of herbs and veggies. I handed out food to perfect strangers.When I went to family occasions, a basket would greet guests at the door, (coming and going) "Take tomatoes" I would yell. I started making deals with people sitting across the isle from me at the local diner. "Excuse me, I couldn't help but overhear, I'll trade you beautiful heads of organic lettuce for that horse manure I heard you telling your friend about". That woman was so gracious she not only went for it, but became a wonderful friend!

One of the good things that did come from all of that produce was making the connection to a local food pantry. They were thrilled to receive lovely organic fresh produce. And I was more than glad to give it.