Veggie & Fruit Growing Areas

[+ScroogieII]

Does anyone else here live in an area in which Veggie & Fruit Growing are major industries?

For one thing, there are lots of fruit stands and U-Pick places to Waymark. (Hmmmm - I thought there was a "Fruit Stands" category,  or similar - seems there isn't.)

I consider myself extremely lucky to live in such an area, especially from June through September, when the farms, local stores and farmers' markets are overflowing with produce. Couple of days ago I picked some tomatoes and peppers at a U-Pick farm, came home and made some of the best chicken cacciatore I've ever eaten.

 

They happened to have some peaches & cream corn on hand, too. Ate three cobs that night (steamed for exactly 10 minutes) - it was absolutely the best corn I've eaten in years!!! Sweet as sugar, crisp, flavourful, just WONDERFUL! As I ate, The Pud sat beneath me, snatching up the kernels which spewed from my mouth as I munched on that corn like I hadn't eaten in weeks. I've saved 3 cobs for tonight. The Pud can hardly wait for me to dig in!

 

Just realized that I haven't given my tomato, pepper and corn supplier a well deserved plug:

They are Deane Farms, on the southern edge of Grand Forks, about a skip and a hop north of that country to the south of us; can't think of its name just now.  They are regulars at the Grand Forks Farmers Market.

 

So, tell us about your area, the produce available, what you like, what you do with it. Hopefully there are a few out there who appreciate fresh fruits and veggies as much as I do AND, at the very least, go out and Waymark the places they've found for others to discover.

Keith

Edited August 26, 2020 by ScroogieII

[+bluesnote]

Hm. This would be interesting. There are actually quite a few permanent fruit stands near me. However, many of them may seem permanent and in reality are not. How would you know for certain if they are permanent (or I guess seasonal)?

Edited August 27, 2020 by bluesnote

[+ScroogieII]

2 hours ago, bluesnote said:

How would you know for certain if they are [permanent]

 

Go back year after year, season after season?

Mebbe actually go in and talk to them AND buy some of their produce?

After all, you're a growing boy - you need your fruits and veggies.

Edited August 27, 2020 by ScroogieII

[+ScroogieII]

Just gnawed and sucked down the last three cobs. SENSATIONAL!

Gotta go down tomorrow morning and get me some more of those!

 

I fear The Pud didn't get her share this time - I was more mindful of the overflow this time around.

Edited August 27, 2020 by ScroogieII

[+SamLowrey]

I rarely miss going to one of the many farmer's markets in my area.  I have gotten to know the vendors (who are producers) over the years.  When I told the lady who cuts my hair about going there she said "did you get any good bargains."  To me that was a sign of someone who just doesn't get it.  I pay more to find things I don't even see in the stores.  Pea shoots, garlic scapes, figs, persimmons.  Occasionally you see the latter two and usually in the higher end markets.  But they have most of the standard fare, too.  Note apples and oranges but greens that you may not have seen at the store.   But it is also about supporting folks who are carrying on a tradition. 

[+Goldenwattle]

I don't live in a fruit and vegetable area, unless you count vineyards. I do enjoy visiting areas that grow many vegetables and seeing the road side stands. Last year I visited Norfolk Island and because of quarantine issues with bringing in fresh fruit and vegetables, there were lots of road side stalls there. I was staying in an apartment with a kitchen. A very good kitchen, with lots of utensils. (Even a great picnic basket.) I did most of my own food cooking, so I visited these road side stalls.

At home, I have vegetable gardens and 12 fruit trees, 3 grape vines and 4 berry bushes, so grow (and preserve) some of my own food.

 

Road side stall on Norfolk Island:

Edited August 27, 2020 by Goldenwattle

[+ScroogieII]

2 hours ago, SamLowrey said:

...the lady who cuts my hair about going there she said "did you get any good bargains."  To me that was a sign of someone who just doesn't get it...

...But it is also about supporting folks who are carrying on a tradition. 

 

Spot on, Sam!!!

Corn, the same variety, was 87 cents in the store - $1.00 at the farm. I'll guarantee you that, even if I had bought the store corn there's no way it would have been nearly as sweet and crisp, or that I would have enjoyed it nearly as much. For each cob, it was the best 13 cents I ever spent!!!

(That's a lie - it was 6 for $5 at the farm) (WOW, never even considered the numbers 'til now - my farm corn was only 83.33333333... cents a cob.)

 

As I said above - I gotta go get me some more in the morning!!!!!

Keith

[+ScroogieII]

1 hour ago, Goldenwattle said:

I did most of my own food cooking, so I visited these road side stalls.

Good choice, for sure...

1 hour ago, Goldenwattle said:

At home, I have vegetable gardens and 12 fruit trees, 3 grape vines and 4 berry bushes, so grow (and preserve) some of my own food.

Until 2012, that was quite similar to my situation. Some years I had as many as 4 or 5 (just can't remember for sure any more) gardens around the neighbourhood, but only a max of (I think) 11 fruit trees, 2 grape vines which I allowed to grow for "miles" (they provided grapes for several families), but no berry bushes.

 

Brain cells are just starting to kick in - Norfolk Island - I remember - You're from down under. On the Island is there much in the way of shellfish, like mussels or oysters? On a trip to Prince Edward Island on the other side of the country, one of the great treats was going down to a beach and picking mussels and oysters, going back to the motel and cooking a big mess of them!!! Like corn on the cob - WONDERFUL!!!

Keith

 

Edited August 27, 2020 by ScroogieII

[+Goldenwattle]

2 minutes ago, ScroogieII said:

Some years I had as many as 4 or 5 (just can't remember for sure any more) gardens around the neighbourhood

Were you Gorilla Gardening? Sounds interesting.

Although I do pick feral fruit growing in the bush and fruit from abandoned orchards, that's becoming less for me now my trees are growing. I have four fruit trees in my front garden, and the rest in my back garden. I got rid of the lawn to make my garden more productive. Besides, lawns are water hungry and not always encouraged in our climate. They get criticised for the amount of water they use.

[+ScroogieII]

3 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

Were you Gorilla Gardening?

 

Dunno what that is. The Aussies have words and sayings that the rest of the world will never cotton on to.

[+Goldenwattle]

9 minutes ago, ScroogieII said:

 

Dunno what that is. The Aussies have words and sayings that the rest of the world will never cotton on to.

I think it's an American term. I quote," The earliest recorded use of the term guerrilla gardening was by Liz Christy and her Green Guerrilla group in 1973 in the Bowery Houston area of New York."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_gardening

Edited August 27, 2020 by Goldenwattle

[+Goldenwattle]

14 minutes ago, ScroogieII said:

The Aussies have words and sayings that the rest of the world will never cotton on to.

Actually , although we do have some of our own terms, basically our version of English is closer to the international version, than the American version. One of the reasons that Americans have difficult is that foreign books have their English converted into American terms, so Americans don't get familiar with the international ones. Books are imported into Australia in the English version they were written in, without being converted, so we get familiar with a broader range of words.

[+ScroogieII]

1 minute ago, Goldenwattle said:

guerrilla gardening

 

OH - guerrilla gardening - I don't think so Organic Gardening, yes.

 

I had my own garden, one in the community garden and 2, possibly 3, still can't remember for sure, in the yards of ladies I knew in the neighbourhood.   The first year I was with the community garden (it was a light sandy silt) I hauled in about 40 or 50 five gallon pails of composted manure. Got 350 pounds, + or -, of potatoes out of the centre bed, people were agog at the number of tomatoes I got off my Celebrity Tomatoes.

[+ScroogieII]

7 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

Actually , although we do have some of our own terms, basically our version of English is closer to the international version, than the American version. One of the reasons that Americans have difficult is that foreign books have their English converted into American terms, so Americans don't get familiar with the international ones. Books are imported into Australia in the English version they were written in, without being converted, so we get familiar with a broader range of words.

 

Be that as it may, there are still a number of Aussie terms that are quite unfamiliar to folks up here (and I'm Canucky, not 'merican ). I watched episodes of "Gold Rush" filmed down under and heard many terms which required translation.

 

Just wish I could think of a couple right now...

Edited August 27, 2020 by ScroogieII

[+Goldenwattle]

1 minute ago, ScroogieII said:

 

OH - guerrilla gardening - I don't think so Organic Gardening, yes.

 

I had my own garden, one in the community garden and 2, possibly 3, still can't remember for sure, in the yards of ladies I knew in the neighbourhood.   The first year I was with the community garden (it was a light sandy silt) I hauled in about 40 or 50 five gallon pails of composted manure. Got 350 pounds, + or -, of potatoes out of the centre bed, people were agog at the number of tomatoes I got off my Celebrity Tomatoes.

Sorry, I used the wrong term. See I wasn't familiar enough with it .

Community gardens are one way to meet people

I have just planted tomato, capsicum and chilli seeds in pots to get ready for the coming spring. I can grow my seedlings inside as I live in a solar house with lots of glass. Normally I buy my plants, but not having been able to go travelling as usual this year , I can grow my own plants from seeds. Cheaper and I get to try varieties that are not normally sold.

[+Goldenwattle]

2 minutes ago, ScroogieII said:

Gold Rush

That's historic, so it would be interesting to know what those words are, as they might not be in common everyday language now. Sheila is one of those words, hardly used these days, cobber is another, even more so no longer used (not sure I have ever heard it used except in old films).

[+ScroogieII]

First, where in Aussieland are you situated?

 

[+ScroogieII]

Sheila I'm familiar with, cobber I'm not.

[+ScroogieII]

3 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

That's historic, so it would be interesting to know what those words are, as they might not be in common everyday language now.

Well, "Gold Rush", the TV serial, isn't terribly historic - it was prolly filmed in 2019.

Don't think the terms and phrases I heard there would have fallen into disuse quite yet.

 

[+ScroogieII]

8 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

I have just planted tomato, capsicum and chilli seeds in pots to get ready for the coming spring. I can grow my seedlings inside as I live in a solar house with lots of glass. Normally I buy my plants, but not having been able to go travelling as usual this year , I can grow my own plants from seeds. Cheaper and I get to try varieties that are not normally sold.

Spring there, coming up on fall here - so sad.

I now live in a condo - no more grass mowing or snow shoveling, BUT no gardening, either. Was too late to get into the community garden here this year - mebbe next year.

[+Goldenwattle]

9 minutes ago, ScroogieII said:

Well, "Gold Rush", the TV serial, isn't terribly historic - it was prolly filmed in 2019.

Don't think the terms and phrases I heard there would have fallen into disuse quite yet.

 

Sometimes films and TV series, like to use old terms to set the era the film is set in. They might greet each other with say, "How are you cobber?"

Not used today, but was in the past, so even if the film was made today, 'cobber' might be used. Same with Sheila, a slang term for a woman commonly used once. Or, "You bonzer", another old fashioned term.

[+Goldenwattle]

19 minutes ago, ScroogieII said:

First, where in Aussieland are you situated?

 

Canberra, but I didn't grow up there.

[+ScroogieII]

2 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

Not used today, but was in the past, so even if the film was made today, 'cobber' might be used. Same with Sheila, a slang term for a woman commonly used once. Or, "You bonzer", another old fashioned term.

 

All true, but these were just people in casual conversation. Again, I wish I could remember some of the terms that the northerners needed to be translated.

[+ScroogieII]

3 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

Canberra

Cool - Do you know any of the other Aussie Waymarkers? Grahame Cookie is in the same corner of Aussieland as you. Haven't talked to him in a bit. Would have to go back over old Emails to remember exactly where he is.

[+Goldenwattle]

7 minutes ago, ScroogieII said:

Cool - Do you know any of the other Aussie Waymarkers? Grahame Cookie is in the same corner of Aussieland as you. Haven't talked to him in a bit. Would have to go back over old Emails to remember exactly where he is.

Sorry, I don't know any Australian Waymarkers. Oh dear , as per usual I didn't look at the heading to see which forum I was in. I just click on 'activity',  and see what has been written. I was imagining this must be a general chit-chat forum. My mistake. I only geocache, and find trigs (and the odd cache, etc, but mainly trigs) on another site. I better leave this to Waymakers.

[+ScroogieII]

15 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

Sorry, I don't know any Australian Waymarkers. Oh dear , as per usual I didn't look at the heading to see which forum I was in. I just click on 'activity',  and see what has been written. I was imagining this must be a general chit-chat forum. My mistake. I only geocache, and find trigs (and the odd cache, etc, but mainly trigs) on another site. I better leave this to Waymakers.

 

Well, I remember seeing you and your moniker in the Waymarking forums on occasion and just thought you were a Waymarker. No matter. It seems that we've turned this thread into a chat line. Wonder what the Wayfroggie will have to say about this. We're supposed to stay "on topic" here, but I tend to stray "off topic" more than do most Waymarkers.

 

BUT, it's not as though a Waymarker and a Geocacher can't chat on occasion.

Drawing people together, as opposed to breaking them apart.

Years ago we DID geocache, but I got over it long ago. There was just no interest there for me after a while. I found all the Tupperware in the woods and all the magnetic micros under the benches. I much prefer to explore the towns and communities of the world with an eye to their story, their history. So... ... That's what I do now.

 

It's been great to meet you, though. If you want to chat about gardening, or anything else, for that matter, message me from my profile page.

 

Take care, Keith

Edited August 27, 2020 by ScroogieII

[+Goldenwattle]

1 hour ago, ScroogieII said:

I much prefer to explore the towns and communities of the world with an eye to their story, their history.

Sorry, I do need to reply to that. Anyway, I think this topic has already strayed beyond return. Many caches give the history too, or take you to some other feature.. One of the most interesting day tours I did was while on holiday in NZ, walking from cache to cache, which would take me to sculptures, historic buildings and other features. It wasn't just Tupperware boxes; it was where I was taken. Take some of my caches: These two take people to a couple of railway stations and give the history:GC7K10Z  &GC7HMHC.

This one tells of a buildings history, and over times, people can see how this area is changing.GC4BKBP

This one's for the trivial buffs: GC6BAM6

I also have a couple of multicaches that take the geocacher on a tour of my suburb, and to some features (such as, a small War Memorial, part of the Berlin wall, a collection of boulders from different periods in geological history) that non-locals mightn't know about. As well as past the local shops, where a stop can be made for coffee, at least pre Covid. I always consider this last feature as very important for a caching outing . Some of my caches are interesting caches, rather than the area you are taken to, such as a train-cache, near railway tracks, a road guard decorated inside, etc. No one is forced to find power trails. Although having said that, I did a power trail once, where the CO had gone to so much trouble to make a very interesting and varied trail, with many different hides and types of caches. Must have taken them some time to set up, and it was a long trail.