Do You Like Cucumbers?

This year I rented half of a raised bed at our community garden. I wasn’t sure what or how much to plant, but I ended up planting four tomato plants, one zucchini plant, one pepper plant, one cucumber plant, and a few marigolds to deter pests. It looked a little sparse back in May, but if you could see it now! The four tomato plants have taken over, despite the cages and string I’ve used to control their spread. And the sole cucumber plant has outdone itself, producing at least two or three cucumbers to pick nearly every day. I have made freezer bread and butter pickles and refrigerator dill pickles, cucumber salad, and then used slices of cucumber to flavor my water. With the cucumber crop still producing, I needed help. So I set the goal of giving away any cucumbers I pick every day on my walk home from the community garden. Given that I walk through our village’s park, pool, and playground area, the odds are in my favor.

Here’s what it looks like: I spot a mother with small children playing at the playground. I ask her, “Do you like cucumbers?” and if she says yes, I offer her some (or all). I explain that I have just one plant at the community garden, but that it has decided to produce enough for our entire village. I thank the mother for helping me out.

I talk to parents waiting on their kids during swim lessons at the pool. People comment about my dogs, and I ask them if they like cucumbers. Some don’t, but most do, and if they don’t like cucumbers themselves, they usually know someone who does. I even took a letter to the post office and then gifted about six cucumbers to the mail clerk and carriers. I took a chance and dropped a couple cucumbers through the open window on the driver’s seat of one of our village maintenance vehicles. I’m guessing they’ll know what to do with them.

These cucumbers have given me a reason to speak to people that I normally wouldn’t talk to. And it feels good, right even, to share summer’s abundance with folks in my small town. When things seem chaotic, it helps to think small, and having the conundrum of too many cucumbers gave me a little problem that kindness and generosity easily solved. And just when people begin to tire of cucumbers in a couple weeks, I’ll have tomatoes – four plants’ worth – to share.