What's up with people?

Garden is doing good this year and producing more than I can freeze or pressure can. So, I call friends, neighbors and family and tell them that I am getting an abundance of produce from my garden and they are more than welcome to get all they want.

I have had them tell me "I'll take a bushel of beans..just leave them on my porch", "Yeah, sure would like to have a couple of bushel of tomatoes. Just make sure you don't pick any with marks on them" or "Great!, I'll take all the corn you can bring to me".

Heck, I think I'll just let it rot back into the ground before I pick a bushel of beans for someone else!

BTW, I used my 860 to plow and disc the garden.

I'd invite em all over for a little get together and let em watch me run a disc or brushhog thru the garden.... That's just me tho..............

Dave... I just LOVE your people skills... We think alike.. A fellow Ohio boy...

Know what you mean. Our garden has been super abundant this year. We have given away tomatoes and green beans, still have several buckets of Better Boys hanging from the vines to be picked. We don't offer produce to anyone who can but won't raise a garden. Joe

I think you can call that ---Lazy--- And they think you got nuthin better to do then help them out with YOUR vegetable garden.
That is almost like saying to the Grocery store " bring me all the overstock, I will eat it"

That's like when I used to offer folks a mess of fish I caught out of my pond and they would say, "Are they cleaned?" I quit offering.

That's a good idea! I may just do that.

Maybe start your own road side stand or take into a local store to sell ? May as well try and get some money back out of it.

(quoted from post at 12:41:33 08/01/12) That's like when I used to offer folks a mess of fish I caught out of my pond and they would say, "Are they cleaned?" I quit offering.

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Grew up on a little river and ran trot lines. Caught plenty of catfish, few perch, and some big carp. One of the neighbors (summer/weekend neighbors) saw me releasing carp one morning and said he'd take all I caught. He made about a 2x2x4 ft cage outta chichen wire and hung it by the boat dock to keep them to flush out til he came and got them . Got to be pretty full and dad called him. Guy said "OK, have David get em all cleaned and I'll be there this evening to get them" Guy showed up and asked for them. Dad took him down to the river and cage, opened it and dumped all the fish back out, threw the cage at him, and told him if he ever tried to make any deals with anyone of the family other than himself, it'd be his last one.......

Dad had people skills too.....

A project we tried with all three of our kids was growing sweet corn for them to sell.
They weren't particularly interested. The final straw was seeing some people who had bought a dozen, and they told how many ears they had to throw out!!!!!!!!!! We were stunned, because we only sold good stuff. Turns out if there was any sign of a single bug or worm damage, even near the end, they got tossed!
Then you have those who are against any chemicals, or genetic modifications. They can all starve I guess.

I'd be pretty grateful in a normal year and this year the heat took a toll in spite of watering my garden.

They don't know or appreciate the work that goes into it, well a small garden is not so bad, but all of it is work, ripe garden vegetables are something to appreciate, got my first ripe tomato and an early cucumber yesterday, look forward to it every year.

A few years ago, I tried selling sweet corn on the side of the road. Picked a trailer load (16 foot flatbed) heaping full.

You wouldn't believe the number of people that would stand there and 'shuck' back the ears and if they weren't perfect or buggy on the tip, they would just toss them back on the trailer. I sat there and watched many of them 'shuck' 2 or 3 dozen ears just to get a dozen.

That was my last time selling on the side of the road! I brought the rest of the corn home and made pickled corn.

Forgot to add...that was at $1.25 per dozen ears!

(quoted from post at 13:15:49 08/01/12) A few years ago, I tried selling sweet corn on the side of the road. Picked a trailer load (16 foot flatbed) heaping full.

You wouldn't believe the number of people that would stand there and 'shuck' back the ears and if they weren't perfect or buggy on the tip, they would just toss them back on the trailer. I sat there and watched many of them 'shuck' 2 or 3 dozen ears just to get a dozen.

That was my last time selling on the side of the road! I brought the rest of the corn home and made pickled corn.

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That was nobody's fault but your own....... Should have had them bagged (or whatever) in a dozen and they take it or leave it. It wasn't theirs to shuck until they bought it. You'da had much more takers than leavers at that price..........

(quoted from post at 15:25:31 08/01/12) Garden is doing good this year and producing more than I can freeze or pressure can. So, I call friends, neighbors and family and tell them that I am getting an abundance of produce from my garden and they are more than welcome to get all they want.

I have had them tell me "I'll take a bushel of beans..just leave them on my porch", "Yeah, sure would like to have a couple of bushel of tomatoes. Just make sure you don't pick any with marks on them" or "Great!, I'll take all the corn you can bring to me".

Heck, I think I'll just let it rot back into the ground before I pick a bushel of beans for someone else!

BTW, I used my 860 to plow and disc the garden.

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You aren't alone. I own and operate a small produce farm. I am generous to my neighbors and friends (you scratch my back I'll scratch yours). Last year I had an over abundance of tomatoes, green beans, cukes, and zukes. I offered the stuff up for free... Just pick it yourself and I'll even let you borrow a bushel basket or two to put it in. I couldn't get any takers. There are a lot of folks around here on assistance due to unemployment or not being able to find a good enough job to cover bills. You would think they would come in droves. Instead, like you, they wanted me to pick it AND deliver it, sometimes 20 or more miles away.

It is ironic that some natives of the area were visiting for a month as they reside in Florida and their daughter from California was with them. These folks are fairly well off... They came multiple days in a row and harvested everything I had to offer so that they could can and freeze it while they were here on vacation to take with them to Florida and to give to other family members and friends. They wanted the "experience" more than anything to share with their 20 something daughter...

Sometimes your station in life is your own fault...

Where I grew up in central Minnesota, the only time we had to lock our cars was during zuchini season. Invariably, if we failed to lock our cars, next morning would be a bag of freshly picked zuchinis.

We usually take all our "over grown" stuff to either my job or my wifes place of employment. This year has been horrible weather (WAY too hot WAY too dry) and there isn't the overages we normally have. Guess what? We've got people actually COMPLAINING (very upset) that we have caused them great misfortune by NOT giving them stuff.

Next year, regardless of outcome, I'll throw extra stuff in the flippin' dumpster before I take it to work.

We did take the little bit of stuff we did have to the fire house and let the local firefighters have it. They seem to be more appreciative.

Sometimes your station in life is your own fault...



I've found that's usually the rule rather than the exception.

ha - sounds familiar.

I never got why people planted so much of the stuff.

Every year as a kid my mother would always be hiding zuchini in the trash so the neighbors wouldn't see most if it being thrown away - after they so generously gave it to us.

Come to think of it - not knowing it was being tossed, they probably were amazed at how much of it we ate.

Will the government let you do that? Read something about the FBI arresting farmers for selling produce not inspected by the USDA - you would have thought they were selling pot or something.

I don't know when the notion of "shucking" the corn at the store or market became the standard. I never remember seeing that years past. The market seller would maybe peel back one or two for display and we would peek in the tip of an ear to see what it was like, then buy our dozen or two. It would be rude to shuck til you find what you like. Now, the stores and markets must provide a bin or box so the nerdy's can peel all their corn before taking it home. How rude is that? If you were selling melons would they have to cut them open one by one til they found the one they liked? Its all in how rude and thoughtless our society is now.

I had a small roadside business last year sold quite a bit but my neighbor don't like tomitioes. So my buddy got all her Mexican relatives and friends together and in one day cleaned about a quarter of the garden. We planted them 3 years ago and this year they taken over the complete garden. I learned don't put out a lot of corn at once a few dozen will keep the pickers from going though them. I don't have a problem with worms here I use overhead sprinklers and it keeps then down.
This my rotten little calves got in and cleaned every corn plant to the ground bummer anybody want some tomitioes.
Walt

same thing here, if we don't deliver they don't want to take the time to stop by even if I have already harvested the vegetables. Neighbor down the road used to sell sweet corn out front, if they complained about worms he would say "no extra charge for the protein".

my wife grows them and makes salsa-verde. Good stuff, can't keep enough of it around.

No problem here, I take all my extra viggies next door. She pays me CASH and sells it at her farm stand.

We had a guy in my unit at Ft KNox that owned a couple of acres off post. He came in one day and told all the guys to include the ones complaining about the cost of food. Said there is plenty left, all you have to do is come out to my place and pick it. One guy took him up on that offer......that weekend my wife, kids and I were picking and putting up veggies. The guy was pretty mad cause everyone else was wanting to know why he wouldn't pick it and deliver it. The following spring he came to me and told me that he would till up some extra ground if my wife and I wanted to buy some seeds and if we would help keep the whole garden weeded. I made sure the "other" guys knew about it when the stuff started getting ripe. Bunch of whiners. We have had the same thing happen here sense I retired. Tell people it's here in the garden....all you have to do is come pick it.

Rick

We send extra vegetables to the local senior nutrition site, it is affiliated with Meals On Wheels but is for those who are still able to get out of the house and who come there for lunch on weekdays. They are always happy to have vegetables, many of the seniors who come used to have gardens but now are no longer physically able to do the work. There are also a few folks who we know who are in a similar situation who miss their vegetables but are no longer able to grow them and we will take them a basket of vegetables when we go into town or whatever.
Zach

I had an aunt (by marriage) that had no money but likes to "put on airs". We picked a bunch of strawberries and gave them to her.

She drove right to town and went to several houses, telling her so-called friends that she had so many strawberries than she needed.

Didn't sit well when the story got back to us. Dad tried to get people to come and pick our surplus, but they wanted it picked and delivered. We just plowed it under for humus.

I have a cousin that I think will starve to death, not from lack of food, but he's getting lazyer everyday and one day he's gonna be too lazy to chew

Greg,
Have the opposite of your story. Next door neighbor asked me if I would pull some stumps from his yard so he could make a garden. Spent a few hours as 2 of the stumps were quite large and he did little or nothing to prepare for their removal. Suppose he thought the 4500 would just rip them right out.
Stumps out and placed just were he wanted them. Scrapped the area a bit for him.
Weeks later when his crop is ready to be thinned.
I am on Amazon buying Milky Spore and my order needs another $10 to qualify for free shipping. So I go and order a 1000 lady bugs.
Released over half of them in my flower garden. The reset I released in his veggie patch. Let him know the small mesh bad in his chicken wired (deer) garden was just me letting go some Lady Bugs. His wife thanked me.
I never asked for any produce, but, would have thought they would have offered something at this point as the garden is over flowing with produce.
Too many people are all take and no give these days.

Pete

I know many people like that. The stories I could tell you! You would just shake your head in disgust, while wondering...How could I have been so stupid in trying to help someone!

"Sometimes you station in life is your own fault. . ."

My grandma, raised in the Ozarks in southeastern Missouri (Lebanon- not too far from Old), and worked hard all her life, had another way of putting it- "Poor people has poor ways, and that's why they're poor." I just thought it was a nonsensical saying when I was a kid, but I often now think how perceptive she was.

She had another saying, about a woman who made a poor choice of a mate- "She sure drove her ducks to a poor puddle."

She lived on our place from about 1959 to 1963, in an old single wide trailer, and "babysat" us kids in the summer. I remember watching the 1960 national political conventions, while we all did needlepoint.

She was about as wide as she was tall, and if she fell, she couldn't get up. We tried to keep her out of the garden, but she'd go anyhow- loved to be involved. Would go out with a pitchfork, and watch for mole activity- each time they moved, she'd get closer- they'd stop, she'd stop- but each time getting into a better position. Finally, she'd skewer the mole with the pitchfork and flip him out of the burrow. If she fell, no problem, she'd just roll/crawl over to the shade and wait for someone to come and help.

After she left our place, she went to a nursing home, where she lived to the age of 91. She remained sharp until she died, and we all loved her stories.

She used to tell about climbing up in the persimmon tree on their farm, and eating them. Her dad would come by, and say, gruffly, "Who's up there stealin' my 'simmons?", and she'd laugh and laugh. I went to the national FFA convention in Kansas City in 1965, and took an extra week to go to Lebanon to see the relatives. They took me to the old home place, and the persimmon tree was still there. I picked some, and took them home. Took them to her at the rest home, told her "I brought you some persimmons," and she was appreciative and started eating them. Then I told her they were from "the tree"- I'll never forget her, sitting there eating those persimmons, and crying like a baby. And I'm kind of doing the same, right now.

RIP Elsie Fulford Mittge, 1881-1972.

I pick and deliver for a select few. I do not open up my garden to anyone to pick out of.

Remember the story of the Little Red Hen? I don't think they teach it anymore.

RedTom, that "shucking" of the corn in the stores is for the same reason that a lot of people won't pick or grow their own vegetables.
Sure, some are just lazy, but many just don't know how to tell when it should be picked.
I picked produce on a farm as a kid. There's no reason to shuck corn, or smell a melon to tell when it's ripe, but people don't know any other way.

I feed my corn stalks to Clara our Hereford cow.I spray very little to avoid poison on our corn.Tip damage dosent hurt an ear of corn.This thread proves people are lazy,stupid and cant cook.The zuchini is coming in and we use it.Supper was a zuchini quiche and cucumbers.A quiche is a pie made with zuchini, eggs and cheese.I have a gallon jars half full of sliced zuchini pickles.Takes zuchini, onions vinegar,salt sugar and spices to make sweet pickles.Zuchini makes a sweet relish that is far better than any cucumber relish you can buy.The drought will bring hugh increases in food prices.

So how long ago was the story of the Little Red Hen written? It's a story as old as time. Everybody wants something for nothing,always have.

Thank you for sharing that story. I read it four times.

I had the opposite problem. When the sweet corn started to get ripe, I told a neighbor he could have some if he wanted. He backed a pickup up to the patch (while I was gone) and cleaned it out, sold it all at a stand in town. Never planted sweet corn again.

I've had the same issues over the years. Amazing the stories you are told. Don't like those. Don't you have any bigger ones. What kind are those, why don't you grow this kind instead? Did you wash them?
Now the only thing I give away is to my immediate family, and they appreciate all they get. The rest we take to the local farmers market to sell. Funny too, we see some of the same folks that we used to give them to there. Whatever doesn't sell is brought back and fed to the animals here. Hard to find a chicken that complains!

that is a great story! thanks for that one!

My Farmers Market charges $100.00 to set up for the season.

This one charges exactly $100 bucks less than that. Good enough reason to let it rot, not as if your going to get rich there. We just sell it cheap, sort of irritates some of the regular sellers but oh well......we don't go all the time, only when we have too much so the he!! with 'em.

LMFAO!

I usually plant extra or too much, would be good to start canning, maybe next year, but I enjoy bringing extra to a few people that enjoy it, the rest, goes into a compost pile, and that does not ask questions ! LOL

My hog lot is beside my garden so anything I don't want gets tossed where its appreciated I have to pick it for them but then again no one I ever gave any produce to gave me Ham and Sausage.
Have a neice that weighs in just under 400lbs is always asking for stuff from the garden told her I didn't want to be an Enabler and I needed to feed it to the hogs so they could catch up to her.

All these stories remind me of one someone told some years ago. The garden owner had plenty of green beans so he offered them to a neighbor woman. She wanted to know if they were cooked!!!!!

Client where my wife worked put in a garden. Told her they planted some zuchinni (sp). 29 hills. Don't have a clue what they plan to do with it all.

Last summer I was talking to a LEO and he had just come from writing up a theft report for a mad lady. She had a box of cucumbers on the sidewalk with "free" written on it. She also had an umbrella for shade over it.

Somebody took her umbrella..............well the sign said "free" and didn't say "not the umbrella".

Sweet corn sells for 4 bucks a dozen here.When I see a large amount for sale I figure its 3 to 4 days old.I put out 2 dozen and check each ear.We use corn not sold for supper.Any left goes to the cow and chickens.Selling corn takes skill.Shucking corn makes a mess so I can see why people do it in the store.They wont find any earworms because the corn is sprayed often.Its usually several days old any way so eating quality is shot.If you grow the right variety and sell it fresh you will have repeat customers.

Next time you offer, pay attention to HOW you word your offer... More than half the time, I suspect that you're implying that the vegetables are already picked and waiting to be picked up or delivered.

Before you go around accusing everyone of being lazy and ungrateful... It ain't nearly as hopeless as you are making it out to be.

see dave's response about locking the car doors.

Friend of mine had too many peas. He was trying to give them away one day to several poorer families. Already picked in the back of his car. Everyone he tried to give them to would ask "are they shelled". That was his last time to give peas away.

My Daddy worked for a fertilizer and chemical company. He would always take corn, peas, etc to the folks that worked in the warehouse. He probably got every busted bag of fertilizer and every damaged chemical in the warehouse. Other salesmen couldn't understand why they never got any fertilizer or chemicals. Of course, they never gave the warehouse guys any produce either.

slim

Dad always planted too much garden... but we rarely had extras because dad liked fresh veggies and would eat the surplus. Mum canned/froze quite a bit too.

Do remember him give some away and delivering it... mostly to people who helped us as we didn't have family close by and the older fellow next door that loaned us tractors to plow and pull logs with (he liked us to borrow stuff since we usually had to fix it first) ha ha.

After reading the above I couldn't help but throw in my experience of my time in the 50's.

I was living in the Texas valley where lots of veggies are grown commercially. I mean like 80 acres of green beans, etc.

This big canneries would come in an buy a whole field and harvest it themselves but they only went over a field once, so lots was left over.

When canners left there would be 50-75 people waiting to glean the field for themselves 'cause they knew the farmer would plow the next day or two.

Hardly anybody went to the grocery stores for their produce.

Guess people don't get hungry anymore.

I know the words I used...and they were specific. "You can pick 'all' you wamt or need"! Believe it or not, I am aware of what I say to others.

Seems kinda funny, to me, that a preponderance of posters tend to have similar experiences.

Would their comments on this subject imply that this many posters were also using the incorect way of asking if someone wanted something from their garden?

Watch GAC this coming september. There is a new show coming out called, "Farm Kings."


There is a huge huge demand for farm fresh produce... but not out here in the sticks. (I say the sticks, but I am a 25 minute drive from downtown Pittsburgh, PA. Believe it or not, it is extremely rural here... for now...) If I drive to southern Butler County, PA in the area of Wexford, Cranberry, Valencia, you become a mighty sorcerer who can magically conjure up vegetables from the dirt. Cranberry, PA and Wexford, PA used to be a cow pasture with a few houses and barns scattered around. Then, they built a 4 lane(now 6 lane) highway straight from downtown Pittsburgh to that area in the mid 1970's. The next thing you know, you can't find a single cow or farmer or farm in the whole area. The entire thing is houses filled with uppity yuppies and urban anti-wunderlusters who decided that escaping Allegheny County taxes was more important than remaining in their natural habitat. small annecdote... I had to explain to a grown woman what mud was when I was in my early teens. She didn't understand the concept of mud caking to shoes.

Regardless, there is a new trend in the next generation of greenies and tree huggers. It's called "hipster." That's not to be confused with "hippie." No, my rural friends, these "hipsters" are taking over society with their non-mainstream tastes and attitudes. They yearn to have a purpose in life, and since their lives are, in fact, meaningless and dull, have therefore assigned anything not popular, or beyond pop-culture to be in vogue trendiness. This new breed is being fed by media which insists that companies like mo*nsanto are poisoning us all. After all, the mainstream embraces companies like mon8santo. Most people who own a yard have purchased roundup to kill weeds. It's mainstream, yet somehow taboo.

One of the newest trends to come with these wandering souls is the embracement of certified naturally grown and organic produce. Now with the who 99% movement and occupy wallstreet, those trendy hipsters have even invented their own words for the dictionary. One of which is "localvore." An obvious uptake on the terms carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore; these localvores insist only on buying local produce as long as it is provided to them in a timely fashion and in a non-pop cuture way. Such was the famous wrapping of fish and chips into uncirculated newspapers, these hipsters embrace farmers markets where once dead terms like peck, pint, and bushel still exsist. pop-culture wants us to believe that only white chicken eggs are good pure clean chickens eggs. These hipsters laugh in teh face of that wisdom adn say, "bring me your spotted, your tan, your dark brown eggs. For I am a hipster, and I clash with pop-culture's insistance on the white egg."

A quick side bar on an obviously extraneous tangent:

The first time I saw one of the new E class Mercedes cars was not in the streets of Fox Chapel, or Upper St. Clair or any of the other old money communities around Pittsburgh. In fact, it was on a hog and chicken farm in the middle of nowhere off the highway... purchasing those sacred brown eggs... (I personally have nothing against brown eggs, but, being 1 of 4 children growing up in a farm family that barely made enough to pay teh telephone bill and electric, I ate only brown eggs my entire life. The moment I knew our family was finally doing ok, was when dear old mom butchered the remaining chickens and store bought the white eggs. to me it was a symbol of just being like everyone else. no offense to any brown egg lovers. I don't care if they are trendy, to me, they are poor people eggs.)




and back to my original point-


A new show about a local Butler County, PA farm will be airing on GAC this fall. They are truely an amazing family, and they deserve all the credit in the world. What their show will do is to spotlight the local farmers markets, especially here in western PA. By doing such, the show will make the farmers market a part of our new pop-culture. I think the hipsters' heads might explode if that happens, but, it will do wonders for some who want to have a whack at farming. The problem for me? There will be lots of people who decide to start "homesteading" and try to buy up all the available farm acreage, as it will be the new trend. They will try to farm with no skills... My cash cropping days might bite the dust as I can't compete in cash rents with those who pay $7 for a cup of cafe double latte espressamochachino al dente or whatever the he11 these people are paying $7 a cup for... They are young, they have money, and they are going to wreck things for me as I don't really care to ride the bandwagon of folks competing in truck farming. My version of a red neck is the truck farmer bent over all day picking things getting a bad sunburn on his neck. I'm not a red neck like that. I'm a college educated, farm raised cash cropper who uses modern technology and air conditioned cabs and machinery. I'm not going to hand weed my spinach greens or swiss chard. I don't even know what arugula is, let alone grow it.


The point is, this is what we are heading for, in suburban and urban sprawling cities it is becoming extremely trendy. So, if you have produce and you want to make (for actual example) $9 per Lb on your spinach, become a trendy CSA farmer near a densely populated city in teh near future. That's where this is going.

...and also, watch the show, it will be good.






http://triblive.com/home/1683749-74...arms-schlass-living-agriculture-county-deemer

I did not write that article, I am not 100% in agreeance with what the author wrote. I personally know Schlass. My opinions are formed from knowing her and trying to guide her for a brief period of time when she first started her farm.


How what all I just typed relates to the original author of this post: If you plan on overplanting any crops, consider starting a CSA, and overplant everything. nothign has to be 100% weed free, or chemical free. I know for a fact some fo the "nutrients" considered "certified naturally grown" are things I wouldn't be spraying directly onto flowering foiliage. But, how it works is that you advertise for a CSA membership. You charge $600 for a year membership. You give a discount for anyone who signs up for a CSA workshare, where they go out and weed your garden. Then, once a week, you pick everything in the garden, divide it up equally into boxes numberign teh share holders, and hand them each a box from your front porch when they come to pick it up. So, they pay you, they do work, they come pick it up, and you never have left overs.

at $600 per membership, get 10 members, take the $6000 and hire your kids to work in the garden, or hire the neighbors' kid. Then, you have a nice garden, no work, a fair share of the produce, and some extra money in your pocket. It's becoming trendy, jump on the bandwagon now, unless of course, you live out in the sticks... In that case, can you pick me some zuchini? I didn't get around to planting any this year and I am craving it.


Thanks for reading.

John