EPIC Labor Day STORIES

Labor Day is quickly approaching; a three-day weekend is as good a time as any to sit around a campfire, burn some marshmallows and stretch the truth.

As I mentioned last week, sometimes people share their gardening stories with me and we will commiserate with one another on elk attacks or swap tips on the most effective way to thwart them; brag about the size of our pumpkins, talk about which plants were successful and which were flops. Sometimes I think some people are pulling my leg when it comes to the truth of their tale and as I MAY have indicated last week (I don’t think I actually said “liar, liar, pants on fire”), the story of the Zucchini Thief certainly seemed to fall into that category.

Several of you out there were quick to sympathize with Zucchini Man and offer---not only replacement zucchini (and very “generously” too)—but tales of your own garden thievery. I’ve heard the Case of the Missing Green Beans—in which ALL the green beans went missing from a local garden, only (and for my sister, who HATES green beans with a passion, this is where the story takes a dark turn) to have a large brown paper sack of green beans show up on the kitchen table--- but my new favorite tale by far is the Case of the Tattle-Tale Thief.

In the Case of the Tattle-Tale Thief, it was a dark and stormy night (ok, that part might be hyperbole, but I swear the rest of this story is true...or as I was told it, anyway) when five of the seven prize squash suddenly went missing from the vine. The original owner of the missing squash took a dim view of such shenanigans and immediately took action to prevent against further incursions, only to be confronted the next day by an indignant individual demanding to know just when they put a lock on the garden gate!

So, stay safe out there on this, the Last Official Weekend of Summer weekend; hit the garage sales --if that’s your thing—or, better yet, go commune with Nature and as you gather at the campfire (only in an approved fire-thingy, in an approved location of course!) see just how far you can flex a good story into an EPIC STORY.