The Estate
Would you like to see our country estate? It's a 15x8 foot sprawling property where we spend our leisure time when small-town life simply becomes too much. Here's the winding drive leading up to the estate gates.
And here's the estate itself! Our country seat!
As you can see, we have a large agricultural operation consisting of one cucumber plant, one zucchini plant, and 3 tomato plants.
So far, the estate has produced a bumper crop of 3 cherry tomatoes, 1 zucchini, and 3 cucumbers:
Now, about these cucumbers. Only two are pictured above, and you might assume that the third had already been eaten and savored. Not so much. You see, I've always wanted to grow crisp, refreshing cucumbers that can be eaten plain, dipped in dip, crunched in salads, or turned into home-made quick pickles. So, when the first cucumber appeared, it was an exciting event. But a string of bad luck had struck the estate recently, including unabashed theft by rabbits and frankly shocking vandalism by deer. So, we decided that no precaution was to be spared when it came to protecting our first cucumber. We double-encased the entire plant in chicken wire and thick steel wire frame- it was a vegetable Fort Knox, and our efforts payed off.
One evening, we came to have a look around the estate grounds and what do we see but a bright yellow cucumber waiting for us! Yellow?!
Yellow indeed. The terrible drought and excessive heat this year (I'm convinced it will never rain again) has caused our cucumbers to completely skip the yummy crisp green stage and go straight to the bitter yellow stage. At first, we remained optimistic and took the cucumber home. However, we were a bit afraid to cut it open, wondering what scaryness waited inside- bugs maybe? Finally, we summoned up the courage to slice into it, and found it to smell nice and fresh, but taste rather bitter. Too bad!! I suppose we'll try again next year!
In the meantime, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for rain- all of us critters could use it!
Hope you've enjoyed this walking tour of our estate! I'm sure we will visit again soon!
As you can see, we have a large agricultural operation consisting of one cucumber plant, one zucchini plant, and 3 tomato plants.
So far, the estate has produced a bumper crop of 3 cherry tomatoes, 1 zucchini, and 3 cucumbers:
One evening, we came to have a look around the estate grounds and what do we see but a bright yellow cucumber waiting for us! Yellow?!
Yellow indeed. The terrible drought and excessive heat this year (I'm convinced it will never rain again) has caused our cucumbers to completely skip the yummy crisp green stage and go straight to the bitter yellow stage. At first, we remained optimistic and took the cucumber home. However, we were a bit afraid to cut it open, wondering what scaryness waited inside- bugs maybe? Finally, we summoned up the courage to slice into it, and found it to smell nice and fresh, but taste rather bitter. Too bad!! I suppose we'll try again next year!
In the meantime, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for rain- all of us critters could use it!
Hope you've enjoyed this walking tour of our estate! I'm sure we will visit again soon!
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