I worked as a farmhand this summer. Often at the end of a hard day's
work, my "boss" would give me a bag full of ripe, large zucchinis from
the garden. I usually bit in to them on the car ride home, unable to
wait until supper.

Most of the time, after a bite, I began to gag because they tasted
absolutely foul. A lot of cross-breeding often took place between
zucchinis and the cucumbers, and whether this was because of the
stupid gardener's incompetence or sheer bad luck remains a mystery.

The point? Often "farm fresh" is a synonym for "awful," and next time
you see a plastic sack of rotten tomatoes at Kroger's you might want
to thank your lucky stars that you have any food at all.


>
> "My mother feels that I'm too hard on my children, so when they visit her
> she likes to spoil them.
>
> "Would you like a piece of chocolate?" she asked Lena one evening.
>
> Lena was watching Loony Toons. "Is it Sharffenberger?" she asked over her
> shoulder.
>
> I got a phone call about that. But what could I say? I'm a farmer. Many of
> my friends are farmers, or they have restaurants, or they take cooking
> seriously, or they have beautiful gardens. For better or worse, My wife and
> I are surrounded by great food. By the time Lena was seven she was
> personally acquainted with three chocolate makers."