Gad Zukes!

By Joanne Wright Schulte
Published on November 1, 2007
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Don't be fooled by zucchini masquerading as cantaloupe.
Don't be fooled by zucchini masquerading as cantaloupe.
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Illustrations by Brad Anderson

For my family, I’d like to designate 2006 as The Year of the Zucchini. Of course this is not to be confused with other years at our house. We’ve also celebrated 2003, The Year of the Tomato and 2005, The Year of the Poinsettia. Everything was red and beautiful then. Between those years was my favorite, 2004, The Year of the Shrub Rose. It was such a fragrant year. I loved it.

Then came The Year of the Zucchini. Because of it, 14 loaves of homemade zucchini bread are still neatly wrapped and sitting in my freezer waiting to be given to friends and family. Many other loaves have already been given away as hostess gifts.

My history with zucchini began a few years ago when, for the first time, I planted just one plant. It was easy to plant and soon began growing … bigger and bigger and bigger. Wow, look at all those yellow flowers. Look at all the vines. How could I have guessed zucchini’s middle name was “prolific”? Why didn’t someone warn me one plant could take up most of my little garden? Who would have thought I’d carefully save every zucchini recipe I could get my hands on and even create a few new ones?

When summer ended and the last zucchini was finally picked, I promised I’d have a serious talk with myself before I ever considered planting zucchini again. It just wasn’t worth it. Certainly I could save myself all that trouble by just going to the grocery story and buying some.

No, sir. No more zucchini!

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