Sunday, August 05, 2007
 
TREES, SHRUBS AND VEGGIES
My husband and I got married in 1957. At that time rentals were as scarce as hen's teeth, if you found something that was available it needed a lot of work and the rent was high. We started house hunting and finally found a three bedroom house that was just built, brand new everything but no grass to speak of, no trees and no shrubs.

We both had been living at home and came to the marriage with practically just the clothes on our backs. We needed lots of essentials to get us started. Money was flying out the window - bedroom furniture, living room furniture, rugs, drapes, radio, TV and on and on!

First Home

The house had a high foundation which I was anxious to cover with some tall shrubs but my practical husband had different ideas. He discovered a mail order company that would deliver garden products of various sizes and if not completely satified refund your money or send replacements to your door.

Ok, that sounded good, my husband ordered some shrubs and a twin birch. When the package arrived I couldn't believe my eyes- it contained what looked like STICKS to me. They sent us what we had ordered!!

They were VERY small shrubs and a tiny tree. It took a few years before the shrubs covered the foundation.

Millie and Aaron in the backyard

In the meantime my husband's interest in gardening increased and he started to plant vegetables. Some of his endeavors paid off and some just never made it to our table.

The most successful crop he had was tomatoes. No matter what kind he grew we always had a successful crop, we couldn't give them away fast enough!

I cooked sauces, soups, put them in salads and gave them to our friends but they still kept coming.

Steve

Steve recognized the problem. He had a great idea - he would set up a stand and sell the tomatoes in front of our house! We lived near a bus stop so when the people got off the bus and saw this cute kid selling fresh garden tomatoes, they went like hot cakes.

There came a time when he ran out of tomatoes and had none to sell, well, leave it to Steve, he went into the house and took some out of the refrigerator, that we had purchased at the supermarket!!

"You must satisfy your customer at all costs!!"


Comments:
Wow, Steve must be a business genius! Took a few books of pounding for me to sink in that customers are always first, no matter what.
 
How smart he was! That sounds like something my son might have done. When I had a garden, we always supplied the neighbors with all the tomatoes they could eat - but we never sold them. Too bad it didn't come to that! LOL
 
And home grown tomatoes are the best, aren't they? Nothing like what you buy in the super markets nowadays. I long for a home grown tomato right of the vine, still warm from the sun.
 
Oh, Steeevvvvee. I love hearing about your setting up house.
 
An entrepreneur from the cradle, eh, Millie! It explains his success today! That and a wonderful mother, too!
 
It appears that he was quite the promoter even way back when!
 
What were you doing buying tomatoes from a store when you were growing them in your backyard? Hmmmm! So, Steve got those business juices flowing at an early age.

Liked your add'l newlywed story in a comment on your earlier post. LOL

Enjoyed the camping story, too.
 
He he! Trust Steve to come up with an astute idea!
Another interesting --and funny-- story. And I love those old photos!
 
LOVE this story. Looks like Steve was always an entrepreneur! Good going!
Your first rental home looks similar to the one my daughter owns in Billerica. You sure don't see houses like that down here in Florida.
And love that black and white of you and your husband. It just has a nice "feel" to it.
 
Sweet Irene

You reminded me of that wonderful taste of the tomatoes right of the vine still warm from the sun.

Nothing like it!!

Joared

Good question!! I checked with Steve before I made this post and he remembered going to our refig, taking the tomatoes out of the cellophane package and selling them.

It must of been the end of the season and we were running out of our home grown tomatoes so we were forced to buy them from the supermarket but Steve had a business to conduct, one way or another!
 
Terri

Yes, that was a special time in our lives - just back from our honeymoon and setting up housekeeping.

If I remember correctly the day that picture was taken. we had just had one of our first meals in the new house - hot dogs and beans -

We were so happy.
 
Terri

Yes, that was a special time in our lives - just back from our honeymoon and setting up housekeeping.

If I remember correctly the day that picture was taken. we had just had one of our first meals in the new house - hot dogs and beans -

We were so happy.
 
MILLIE!!! I'm so excited. I just saw you on ABC News! You're a celebrity - and who's this Bubbe they talked about? Do you know her?
 
Steve was quite enterprising even at a young age. That's great. Just like his mother!
Susan
 
Wonderful photos Millie. Thank you for sharing.
 
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