Just Not the Same

Last year the zucchini got out of hand. We ate it every way imaginable. Zucchini pickles, zucchini soup, zucchini muffins, raw zucchini, baked zucchini, sauteed zucchini, fried zucchini, and stewed zucchini. It grew so quickly that all the cooks in our extended family couldn't keep up. It was delicious and nutritious and beautiful, but I found myself wishing those vines would take it down a notch and give us a chance to catch up. We gave it away to anyone who slowed down on our lane long enough for us to toss some at them.  We found ourselves feeling overwhelmed by the bounty. But the vines finally did quit producing at the end of the season, and were pulled up and fed to the goats.

Though I'd stashed a freezer full of zucchini, we went through it quickly during the winter months. I used up the last bag of our frozen shredded zucchini in a batch of pasta sauce, then we started looking ahead to summer zucchini again. By March we were all starved for some fresh zucchini. And when the first cute little green zucchinis showed up in early summer we couldn't snatch them up fast enough. Nothing says "summer" better. 

Then the squash bugs attacked. Even with a valiant effort from DaddyDon and Gram and the big grandkids, the bugs won. We never saw zucchini bounty this year. We just got a taste to tempt us. Just enough to remind us how delicious it is. 

The photo above was the only little batch we put in the freezer. We've had other garden goodies this year, and we are still enjoying tomatoes and okra and peppers galore. But boy, do we miss having an out-of-control zucchini crop. Summer's just not the same without it.