Chester Chatter: Putting our garden to bed

By Ruthie Douglas
©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC

It was that time of year once again. My mother-in-law and I tended a very large vegetable garden and it was now time to put it to bed. The nights were cold, the days were sort of a bit chilly and frost was just around the corner.

We started by pulling up the tomato plants that still had unripened tomatoes on them, then laid them on newspapers in the cellar. The tomatoes would ripen and sometimes we would even have fresh tomatoes for Thanksgiving.

Next row over were green and yellow string beans. We stripped remaining beans from the plants and set them aside for a stir fry dinner. Next we would pick the green peppers. Then Brussels sprouts and cauliflower were picked and refrigerated.

We had two types of squash and some sweet potatoes. Once we were done with the vegetables, we’d rake up leaves and stems into the center of the garden and set them on fire. We’d then rake the ash into the garden for next year.

Also right from the farm came chickens, pork, beef, lard, eggs, milk and cream. It took us two women to keep up with our part of the farm duties.

Scene and heard

My neighbor Carl Davison has died. Carl Davison Jr. of Melbourne, Fla., has been up with his family and stopped by for a visit. It’s hard to believe I served him his hot lunch in high school.

Roy Spaulding Sr. has also died. Carol Daniels, the wife of my classmate Peter Daniels, has also died.

Donna Whitney met with some of her girlfriends for a lunch in Bethel one day this past week.

Springfield High School Class of 1959 also met for lunch at a restaurant in Springfield.

Happy birthday to my two grandsons, Logan Gabert and Ben Bolaski.

And a happy Halloween birthday to my good friend Melvin Stowell.

A big thank you to the volunteers at Chester Townscape and the wonderful work they have done to keep Chester beautiful all spring, summer and fall. Thanks to them, we have the prettiest town in all of Vermont.