Rutabagas

Somehow, accusations that my sister was a rutagaga (in her blog) reminded me of this time...

I LOVE RUTABAGAS! Have you ever had FRESH rutagabas? The ones you get at the grocery store are usually coated in wax and have been sitting around in a warehouse since the beginning of time.

But FRESH RUTABAGAS are yummy. Dice and cook them puppies up with butter and parsley and perhaps a wee bit of garlic and you have yourself a real treat.

Years and years and years ago there was this old man who lived by himself. He had an ENORMOUS garden, the likes of which you have never seen. He told me that at a younger time his wife had been in an accident that left her completely paralyzed. He loved her so that rather than let her go he cared for her himself. He spent over 20 years turning her, cleaning her, feeding her, brushing her hair, reading to her...with no response from her as she could not. He lived all those years on one tiny thread of just knowing he loved her and knowing she loved him back. In his words, he knew she was happy as that is why she kept living all those years.

Then she finally died.

He began to keep a garden. Only a really large garden would do. He decided that he HAD to do something with the surplus veggies and so he started to allow curious people to bring a large paper grocery sack and for $10 he would let you fill the sack with as much as you could.

I always got a LOT of rutabagas.

They were so good.