—Lancaster Farming, Saturday. July 17,1971
16
The Greens of Washington Boro are Outstanding Gardeners
By Mrs. Charles G. McSparran
Farm Feature Writer
A beautiful sight to see is the
roadside table of Mrs. Benjamin
L. (Louise) Green of Washing
ton Boro RDI. It is on the east
ern edge of the Boro, along
Route 999.
Her table is under the shade
of a maple tree and is laden
with the freshest array of gar
den vegetables, melons, ber
ries and fruits which Mrs.
Green picks early every sum
mer morning.
The stand itself is unpreten-,
tious, to say the least, but fea
tures the earliest grown vege
tables in the county and the
v best varieties.
Louise works from 5 a.m to
10 pm. every day in the sum
mer. Her husband says, “She’s
fthe gardener. I don’t know how
she stands this busy pace, but in
the winter she’s just the op
posite; she hibernates and
catches up on her housework.”
She picks most of the vege
tables and fruits before 9 a.m.,
then arranges and tends the
stand, does her housework, cans
and freezes the vegetables and
cooks for her family. She also
helps keep the truck patch
clean and it is practically weed
free. They stake the tomatoes,
keep the raspberries pruned
and in general do a terrific job
of gardening.
Her hobby is cooking and try
ing new recipes. She is a very
hospitable person and an excel
lent cook. She likes to give out
her favorite recipes, too. She
usually tells her customers how
to prepare some of her prefer
red dishes from her vegetables.
Louise, the daughter of Willis
Sanders of Blue Lane, Columbia
RD2 and the late Mrs. Sauders,
has been a farm girl all her life.
Both she and her husband have
always lived in Manor Town
ship. Both attended Penn Man
or High School. Ben is a son of
the late Mr. and Mrs. John
"'Green, who were farmers also.
Ben and Louise started farm
ing a little tobacco. They sold
some sugar peas, then some
sweet com and they worked at
the Washington Boro Tomato
Co-op a year or two. Mrs. Green
packed tomatoes at the co-op
a while, then put handles and
lids on the 15 'pound tomato
containers.
They bought this IVz acre
farm 13 years ago and at first
grew mostly tomatoes and to
bacco. They’ve always had a
stand with some vegetables to
sell since they lived here, but
it has grown until now they
have nearly five acres planted
in garden vegetables and fruits.
Anyone who has ever had a gar
den knows this is a lot of hard
work.
They grow asparagus, lima
beans, string beans, red beets,
cabbage, cantaloupes, carrots,
corn, cucumbers, eggplants,
gourds, lettuce, okra, parsley,
peas, sweet and hot peppers,
pumpkins, all kinds of squash,
sweet winter radishes,
Indian corn, red and black rasp
berries, rhubarb, strawberries,
apples, peaches and grapes.
They also have saffron, spear
mint and catnip.
Their vegetables, on the aver
age, are ripe two weeks before
their neighbors just east of them,
This is due partly to the warm
er climate there and to the
early varieties of vegetables
planted.
They had tomatoes ripe by
July 7 this summer and will
have cantaloupes by July 20.
Their Burpee hybrid canta
loupes are said to be the best
grown. They grow Jet Star and
Glamour tomatoes because they
mature earlier.
They have Burpees Tender
Crop green beans and Early
Anna wax yellow beans. Among
seven varieties of squash they
grow are Zucchini, Patty Pan,
Summer Crookneck, Yellow
straight neck, and winter varie
ties Acorn and Butternut. They
grow Silver Beauty and Silver’
Queen white sweet corn and
Jubilee (yellow) sweet corn.
They grow yellow long neck
and Halloween pumpkins.
They sell most of the vege
tables in small quantities but
during the peak of the season,
if they have more than they can
sell in small quantities, they
sell some in bulk.
Mr. Green plants the vege
tables because, as Louise says,
“he seems to have a green
thumb.” He grows the water
melons and cultivates the vege
tables. In order to get early
watermelons, he transplants
them from medium-size pots.
He likes flowers and grows
gladioli, peonies, iris, Easter
and Tiger lilies, bleeding hearts
and zinnias. He works at the
D.O.T. county sheds, Lincoln
Highway East, as a maintenance
man.
He loves dishes and has quite
a collection of antique dishes
and glassware, as well as new
china. He has a large assort
ment of old furniture, and col
lections of buttons, marbles,
pocket knives, picture frames,
motto signs coins, stamps,
straight razors, Indian relics
and bottles.
He has 300 to 400 old bottles,
of which 100 are antiques. He
goes out hunting old bottles
and Indian relics. He has sever
al collector’s bottles. Some are
Jim Beam’s in Regal china and
some are Ezra Brook's Heritage
china and Colonial china. He
has the first one he made. You
have to see these to appreciate
them.
Ben was a taxidermist. He al-
Mrs. Benjamin L. Green, Washington and growing the vegetables.
Boro RDI, enjoys running her produce stand
so did a lot of hunting, trapping,
duck hunting and fishing.
Greens have three children.
Benjamin Jr graduated from
Penn Manor High School and
does construction work. He is
married to Roberta (Bobby)
Fry. She and Louise have a
strawberry patch on the halves
and she helps her with the pro
duce stand when she needs ex
tra help. Ben Jr and Bobby
have a son and a daughter and
live in Columbia.
John Willis graduated this
past June from Penn Manor
and is learning the plumbing
trade, working with a local con
tractor.
Tanya Elaine is seven and en
joying her summer vacation
from school.
Greens are members of Cen
tral Manor Church of God.
Mrs. Green has a very deli
cious dish recipe which is her
favorite and one which she
gives to her customers. It is
SQUASH CASSEROLE
4 cups peeled and thinly slic
ed zucchini squash
1 cup sliced onions
Cook together on low heat
with lid on pan (add no water
or shortening) until tender.
Steam on low heat.
Add white sauce to it:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
salt and pepper
Top with:
% cup grated sharp cheese
% cup butter
Finely crumbed bread or
dried bread crumbs to cov
er casserole.
Bake till brown, about 20
minutes, in moderate oven.
TOMATO CASSEROLE
4 sliced ripe tomatoes
2 green peppers sliced
Arrange in layers with salt,
pepper, flour, butter on each
layer, until casserole is filled.
Pour milk over to cover vege-'
tables. Bake at 350 degrees,
about % how*, till it thickens.
FRESH BLACK RASPBERRY
PIE
Wash and drain 1 qt. rasp
berries
% cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup water
% teaspoon lemon juice
Va teaspoon salt
Place raspberries in an un
baked pie shell.
Combine sugar, cornstarch,
water, salt and lemon juice.
Cook slowly until glossy. Pour
hot mixture over berries. Put
on top crust and bake at 350 de
grees till brown. Place pie in
refrigerator to chill. Top with
whipped cream. Strawberries
can be used in place of rasp
berries.
SWEET-SOUR PICKLES
1 gal. pickle slices (do not
peel)
2 tablespoons salt
Cover with cold water and
soak over night. Drain next
Mrs. Green picks raspberries to sell.
morning and add enough sugar
water solution to cover pickle
slices. This is made in the pro
portion of 1 cup sugar to 1 cup
water. Onion rings may be add
ed if you like. Add 2 table
spoons pickling spice. Heat
through, only till pickles have
changed color. Put in jars and
seal.
CABBAGE SOUP
Vz medium sized head
N cabbage
2 cups potatoes (cubed)
salt and pepper
Cover with water and cook
till tender. Make rivals:
% cup flour
1 egg
salt and pepper
Garber Oil Co.
TEXACO
HEATING OIL
Burner Soles & Service
MOUNT JOY, PA.
Ph. 653-1821
PROPANE GAS
Bulk, Bottled Metered.
v Serving Farm, Home and Industry in Lancaster,
York & Lebanon Counties.
Especially equipped to serve the
Dairy and Poultry Farmer.
FUME-RITE GAS, Inc.
Box 97, R. D. 1, Gordonville, Pa. 17529
Phones: 717-768-8248 626-5540 733-2142
Stir with spoon. Drop in with
above mixture and cook 5
minutes. Add
1 can evaporated milk
2 tablespoons brown butter
BAKED CORN
3 cups fresh corn, cut off cob
2 cups crushed saltines
1 teaspoon salt
pepper
1 tablespoon sugar
butter
milk
Put corn and saltines and sea
sonings in 2 quart casserole in
layers and dot with butter. Cov
er with milk and bake at 325
degrees till thickened. Stir once
or twice during baking.