Marvin Baker has been growing vegetables at North Star Farms for quite a few years. His garden supplies a group of folks, like me, who get weekly deliveries off fresh vegetables…everything from acorn squash to zucchini. He also sets up a booth at the North Prairie Farmers market selling his quality grown vegetables to hundreds of folks each garden season.
In a recent conversation with Marvin I had a simple question, “Hey Marvin, what happened to the zucchini this year?” You see by the middle of September we normally have pawned off many zucchinis to our friends and neighbors. But as of October 14th, we have only had to reach out once with our offer of “Do you need any zucchini”.
The old joke is: Don’t leave your car doors open during zucchini harvest, or someone will fill your back seat with zucchini. So, Marvin, what are your thoughts? “I don’t know” Mr. Baker answers, “normally you can grow zucchini on the moon, but not this year.”
If I really wanted to acquire zucchini, I would ask around as to whether this is a common phenomenon in the summer of 2024. My fear is that I would run into someone who had a normal zucchini type growing season, and there I would be, trying to gracefully say no to a person with a car trunk full of zucchini.
There are those folks that really like zucchini and will offer to give you their wonderful zucchini bread recipe or tell you about fried zucchini, or even a pepperoni stuffed zucchini with parmesan cheese and butter topping (I think she called it a poor man’s pepperoni pizza), but the common ground here is, I really don’t particularly care for zucchini.
So, let’s mark 2024 on our calendar and remember it for what it was; the year that they couldn’t grow zucchini on the moon.
There are also a lot of folks that spend hours gathering chokecherries to make chokecherry jams, jellies, syrups, and wine. But everyone from my sister-in-law in Velva, to my wine making friend in Garrison, tell me there weren’t any chokecherries this year. No, it wasn’t a small crop, but they say there weren’t any chokecherries. Not that I search every year for chokecherries, but I can’t ever remember there not being a crop, anywhere in the Minot area.
Chokecherries, like zucchini, are really not hard to grow. Plant one bush and get ready for chokecherries extraordinaire. We’ll be on watch for a return to normal in 2025.
A Very Humbling Moment
When I was in college I had a mentor who was from my same hometown, Maddock, North Dakota, who had a lot of journalism experience before he went back to school at the University of North Dakota to get a degree. From my view, Marlan should have been teaching the journalism classes with the wealth of knowledge that he had.
Marlan and I kept in touch over the years, as he was the editor of the McLean County Independent in Garrison for a number of years.
The journalist circle is fairly small, I mean true journalist circle. I would catch Marlan’s name as he garnered awards for his photography and journalism. In 1979 Marlan launched what would be one of favorite magazines, Dakota Country.
Journalists have different styles, but Marlan and I are certainly on the same page in writing styles, albeit I am and never will be the writer that Marlan Hvinden is.
A bit of fast forwarding will bring us to 2018 when Marlan and his wife Nancy published a book: Justice Was Swift, Tales of the Old West. It’s a great book, especially if you’ve travelled the western half of North Dakota.
In 2018 Marlan and Nancy, amidst other writing projects, began what would turn out to be their most labor intensive writing project, “The Heroes Next Door, Benson County, ND WWII Veterans.” His last word in the book pretty much says it all: All gave some, and Some gave All. They are “The Heroes Next Door” and they were our friends, neighbors, and relatives. They Must Never be Forgotten. They Shall become A Legacy.” The book is 436 pages of stories from my home county, Benson County, with stories about those who served in WWII. Without knowing, I am guessing that none many counties in North Dakota have such a detailed chronicle of those who served in WWII.
My most recent conversation with Marlan & Nancy would bring a bit of vision as to the passion that creates a book like The Heroes Next Door. The Northern Sentry will be once again honored to produce a Veterans Day Salute section in our November 8th edition. The Hvinden’s will be part of that section, both as and interview and with a story about just one of those featured in Marlan and Nancy’s book.
Mark your calendars and watch for the Northern Sentry for this special section.
Best Kept Secrets
The North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park is a great year round visit. Located just a few miles south of Watford City, North Dakota, it is definitely one of those best kept secrets for those who love the outdoors. There are several well marked trails in the park that allow access to some of the most beautiful scenery in North Dakota.
The other best kept secret is the Pembina Gorge area. Located in northeastern North Dakota, it rivals some of the fall color foliage of places like Michigan and Maine. Again, it’s just a day trip away.
Today’s Chuckle
Some bosses do bird imitations. They watch you like a hawk.
