Sometimes vegetables behave strangely, and they seem to do it behind my back. As I harvest yellow summer squash, I find mostly small fruit, but once in awhile there is a monster which must have just sucked all the energy from the rest of the plant because it has transformed into dark yellow, bumpy, non-edible rubbish. When did that happen? When I walk the pickler patch, I see a similar pattern, but even more bizarre, mostly tiny pickles, too small to harvest, but every few feet, a big fat pickle, not very long, almost round. Okay, something went wrong here, I’m not sure what. Then I see an overly bulbous tomato that looks like it is going to bust at the seams it went ahead and created throughout its fruit. These vegetables, and many more like it, will never be seen. They are too despicable looking (and maybe tasting)  to exist under the critical eye of the modern consumer. Currently, our society seems to live in a state of plenty, but I know many want for healthy food. Perhaps, I need to improve my gardening habits, but certainly we need to improve our food system. Although, I know that food waste comes with the territory, it always gives me a tinge of regret. Well, at least the chickens are well fed. 

~Joy