Michael Mekenie gives away most of what he grows.
was growing up, no one he knew bought vegetables at the grocery store. Paying for vegetables would have been like paying for gravity or sunlight. Who would do that?
Michael’s family was Eastern European. Michael’s father was what he calls “an underground farmer” — that is, a coal miner. His parents were aboveground farmers, too, growing their own produce. “There were probably seven, eight or more places that sold tomatoes in a four-block area,” Michael said. “My family sold not only tomato plants but cabbage plants.”garden — which is why every spring he plants thousands of seeds, tends them, then gives away the harvest.And he does grow a lot. This year, Michael will give away hundreds and hundreds of tomatoes, peppers and zucchini, placing them in a laundry basket on a bench in front of his house, next to a sign reading “Free Veggies.
A certified master gardener, Michael worked in retail, first at Kmart then in the garden department at the Springfield Home Depot. He loved that job. On Saturdays, customers would line up a dozen deep to pick his brain. If he could coax life from the soil, they could.
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