Free trug Friday

Mary says:

I must have been 5 years old.  My mom was hanging clothes on the line and talking to the neighbor who was picking strawberries in her garden.  I wandered over and she asked me if I wanted to help her. I picked a strawberry and she told me to eat it and let her know how it tasted….I did and it was sweet and juicy and heavenly!

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 6:22 am.

Shawna Coronado says:

I love the trug and am hoping I get lucky and win it. Here’s my story:

When I was 8 years old I remember standing in my grandmother’s tomato garden in central Indiana during a particularly hot summer day in August. It was my birthday week visit and I was surrounded by tomato plants on one side of me and Grandma’s gorgeous Zinnia cutting bed on the other.

Bees buzzed, sun-shined, and my freckles were coming in nicely - the world was good. At that moment my mouth was exploding with deliciousness as I shoved tiny yellow cherry tomatoes in as fast as I could before Grandma could come out and catch me.

Well, of course, SHE CAUGHT ME. There I stood with amazing tomato juice dripping from my chin, smiling from ear to ear.

She said, “Good?”

I said, “Mmm-hmmm” as I chewed. “Grandma, I’ve never seen yellow tomatoes before - they’re so GOOD!”

Grandma confessed to me then. The story is a familiar one, “Welll… you see I was at the Purdue University test garden and I saw the tomatoes growing there. So I knelt down to tie my shoe and miraculously tomatoes fell into the pocket of my jacket, so I brought them back here and planted them in the ground.”

Wide-eyed with wonder, I said, “It WAS a miracle. These guys are GREAT!”

And that’s my story of the first time I remember eating a vegetable straight from the garden. A thieving, adorable, grandmother’s garden. LOL! It’s one of my favorite moments ever.

Shawna

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 6:26 am.

Jennifer says:

The first time I grew my own tomatoes was a revelation…I picked one off the plant and bit into it and thought…..oh, this is what a tomato is supposed to taste like.

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 6:57 am.

Carlie says:

I must have been about four years old and I was in my Grandmother’s garden with her.  She had a large garden with every kind of vegetable and I especially remember her pulling up the carrots.  I’m not sure if it was the color, the shape or the size that fascinated me initially, but after a good washing, it was definitely the taste.  To this day carrots are one of my favorite vegetables.

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 7:16 am.

Jan Brider says:

Grew up in a farm in Indiana and coud take a walk and pick whatever I liked.  There were grapes, apples, plums, pears and lots of veggies…If I picked it and it was not ripe, I shared it with the chickens.  I love the trug and hope this is my lucky day!

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 7:16 am.

Christine Bliss says:

5 years old growing my first garden from seeds, so of course the radishes are ready first, so red and pretty, anticipating something sweet and red tasting and then getting a bite of a hot red radish!

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 7:19 am.

Anne Curtis says:

I cant remember if my first pick was a fig or a scuppernong. We had a large scuppernong arbor in our back yard and lots of fig trees.

I definitely remember eating figs when they were ripe and almost bursting out of their skins.So delicious. I couldnt eat just one.

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 7:20 am.

Rebecca says:

My mother was given a couple of boysenberry “sticks” to plant in our yard when I was about 3 years old.  I remember watching her plant them and asking her why she was planting these sticks.  She told me about the wonderful berries we were going to get from them to make pies.  I was so excited I could hardly wait so I would check on them everyday.  It took awhile to grow and start producing but one day my mom called me to come and see the tiny berries growing on the bush.  She told me we had to wait until they got bigger and I had to wait some more but I could have the first one when they were ripe.  When that day finally came I was so excited and she let me pick it from the vine.  I popped the whole berry in my mouth and it exploded with juice and tasted so good I asked for another.  My mom laughed and let me pick as many as I wanted to eat.

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 7:26 am.

Ellen B. says:

I don’t remember my first, but I do remember my son’s first.  He was six months old and I was holding him in one arm while picking a peach with the other and talking to my neighbor at the same time. I started eating it and he reached out with both hands, pulled it to his mouth and was rooting it just like when breast-feeding!  My neighbor and I laughed about it for years.  He still loves peaches.

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 7:27 am.

Lynn S says:

My story also concerns a grandparent.  I guess those childhood years really are formative.  I was “gardening” with Pop-Pop.  We were gathering turnips.  I remember him getting out his pocket knife a peeling one.  He handed it too me saying, “Here, try this.  I guarantee it’ll be sweet and tender as an apple.”  It was!

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 7:27 am.

Carol Hernandez says:

I will never forget watching my mom plant her garden in Colorado Springs, CO.  She worked so hard and had 4 mouths to feed from it.  I believe she instilled in me my love of gardening.  We had tomatoes that tasted sweeter than any peach off our peach tree!

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 7:33 am.

Jeanne Ruibin says:

My grandmother’s neighbor grew lima beans, and I picked and ate them when I visited her.  I really don’t recall if they tasted good or not, but I do remember what a kick it was to pick something right off a plant and eat it.

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 7:54 am.

Charlotte Owendyk says:

I must have been 4 when I had my first strawberry. It was soo good…I loved it when my Mom would let me help her pick them. Few ever made it into my dish.

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 8:07 am.

Mary Doyle says:

I only recall that my mom had some strawberries and artichokes.  The strawberries were delicious!  I only remember seeing the artichokes - I must have been very young!

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 8:53 am.

Denise says:

Geesh!  It was too far-long-ago!  But here is some input.  I have two grandsons and a grandnephew, ages 8, 6 and 3 who we babysat last weekend.  They had a blast picking the last of the blueberries, Alpine strawberries, apples, apples and more.  They learned that apples grow on trees and all they had to do was pick them rub them against their shirt and eat!  I not sure who ate more, but the apples are now all gone.  They also helped in counting and transferring some Monarch caterpillars.  That was true “picking!”

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 9:58 am.

Jean says:

I went to the Bronx in New York and was sent to pick cherries from a tree. I had a large bowl and I was up there for about 1 hour. eating about 5 bowls and bringing down 1 bowl. That’s the first time I ate a fresh cherry. Luckily I did not get sick.

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 10:19 am.

Maryann says:

very similar to others as it was my dads garden and he let me pick a home grown tomato in Ohio. It was so fabulous! I now plant tomatoes in his memory every year. not so good this year though.

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 10:27 am.

Marj Myers says:

That would be a real help in the garden, put things on it as you go and it would save cleaning up afterwards especially when pulling weeds.  I think of the time my grandpa’s place had a raspberry patch and I could pick as many as I wanted. When I was a teenager, I picked for money to buy school clothes but I would still put the biggest and best ones in my mouth instead of the box. They are still my favorite berry.

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 10:35 am.

Diane Wilkinson says:

First time would have to be sucking on honeysuckle flowers in our backyard when I was probably 8 years old or so, We would while away the summer days catching the moths on the lantana flowers and tasting the sweet nectar in the honeysuckle!

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 5:12 pm.

Gaille says:

This memory comes from my childhood home where there was a peach tree in the yard. They were so tasty when we could beat the birds to the ripe ones! We put the lemons from the lemon tree in a wagon and travelled around the neighborhood selling them door to door…...early entrepeneurs.

Posted on November 18, 2011 at 5:39 pm.

Maureen O'Brien says:

Newly transplanted from New York City, I arrived at my sister’s house in Southern California. She had told me about the fruit trees in the backyard, the joys of plucking a ripe lemon or orange… Well, she also had a beautiful old olive tree in the front yard.  And the olives were plump and black.  Yes, reader, I ate one.  Ah-yeee!!!!!!!  Bitter inky juice ran down my beautiful white tee as I tied to spit the offending olive out of my mouth. 
How did I know? Where I come from olives came from a can!

Posted on November 19, 2011 at 2:13 pm.

Linda Mendelssohn says:

Not about me, but my 2-year old granddaughther loves to go out and pick roma tomatoes.  She knows they have to be washed off and then she eats them like candy.

Posted on November 21, 2011 at 7:53 am.