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07/29/2003 Archived Entry: "I HAVE A GOOD FEELING ABOUT RURAL LIFE"

I HAVE A GOOD FEELING ABOUT RURAL LIFE

Today, I drove out to Lucille Svaty's where my favorite gardner, Caleb Svaty, keeps his produce. It's the same place his cousins, his father, Dave, and his grandfather, Garfield, sold their produce. It's a Svaty family operation. I've been going there for as long as I can remember.

No one tends the place as they all have farming chores. Well, Caleb’s grandma keeps an eye on the place from a distance. There is a black board with the prices for the various things he has...tomatoes $1.00 a pound, green peppers 25 cents, beets, onions, potatoes, garlic etc. Paying is on the honor system.

I weighed out four pounds of tomatoes that had not yet been refrigerated and got $4.00 out of my billfold. The coffee can was close by with money from previous customers and a sales book. Maybe the book is for their purposes as I didn't really look through it. I left a note of what I bought and how much money I put in the coffee can and left with my purchase. That’s a nice way to do business.

Big ol' fat bacon and tomato sandwiches were on the menu for lunch. There's nothing better than Wilson Food's home-smoked bacon, cooked crisp in the micro, and Caleb's home-grown tomatoes layered on some whole grain bread that has been slathered with real mayonnaise and topped with mounds of lettuce. What a treat. What a buldge in the waistline.