Crazy quilts

Durlandville - O.K., they’re not really quilts. But the varied crops that are now being raised on the rich mucklands are being planted to create some truly beautiful quilt-like scenes. The onion is still “king” but more and more they are being replaced by other vegetables, some traditional, some new to the area. Some grow low to the ground, or in the ground, or climb like vines on an intricate network of arbors. Iceberg and other old standby lettuce varieties are giving way to other leafier and more colorful ones. Better tasting is purely according to individual preference. Sweet corn, field corn and pumpkins have become major crops, as well as sod that ends up as lush lawns throughout the tri-state region. Much of the produce is shipped out, but more and more is staying relatively close to home and sold directly from the farmer to the consumer at the increasingly-popular farm markets. Unfortunately, there is an increasing number of acres that have gone to seed and lay unused. Perhaps as the varieties of crops increase, that land will also be sewn into that “crazy quilt.”