Memories ~
From Falls Church to Kilmarnock
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For Sale
(1965 – 1973)
Mom’s garden was very large, too big for just our family (even with seven kids).
Mom loved to plant, almost as much as she loved to cook. The garden, typically,
would have at least the following: 3 rows of corn, 2 rows of squash (zucchini,
winter, yellow and white, varieties), 1 row of mixed items (onions, radishes,
carrots), 2 rows of tomatoes, 1 row of string beans, 1 row of lima beans and a
row of potatoes. Along the inside of the fence, surrounding the garden was
asparagus. Also, in the garden were a Red-delicious Apple tree and a Georgia
Peach tree. The garden was always set, around these two trees.
Every year, at the end of the season, my sisters and I were sent out to meet our
neighbors! Actually, we were sent out to sell our excess garden crop, to our
neighbors. We were allowed to keep all the monies acquired from the sales. Mom
and Dad’s way of not having to give us an allowance! For the first couple of
years, 1965 to 1968, I was given the little items: onions, asparagus, beans,
radishes and carrots. These items usually ended up in the sewer (either I threw
them away, or mom did), since, no one liked those items (dumb people). After
1969 I was given more of a burden - not really. I actually developed a rather
nice sized client list for squash and corn, and by 1972, I knew all of the
people in Falls Hill by name.
Several people told me “that Giant (the only supermarket in the area) had
pitiful vegetables.” They sold zucchinis that averaged 10 inches in length, for
$3 each. I sold for $4 each, zucchinis that averaged 15 to 18 inches in length
and were home grown. I also, always, sold all of the corn, potatoes and tomatoes
that we had leftover, every year. It was kind of funny, but for some reason,
the last two years that we lived in Falls Hill, our neighbors started to like;
beans, radishes, onions and carrots. But strangely, no one other than our
family, and the families on our court, ever bought the asparagus (more strange
people).
The last year we lived in Falls Hill (1973), I was the only child still living
at home. I sold $225 worth of vegetables to the people of Falls Hill. The next
year, we were living in Falls Church, mom sent me out to meet our new neighbors.
I tried, but most of the “Falls Church” neighbors had gardens of their own and
weren’t interested in what I was selling. I found it easier, to go back to Falls
Hill, to sell our vegetables.