Speaking of Nature Friends....

Apparently, my father's oldest brother (Dave) was the inspiration for Nature Friends.  Many shtetl jews had romantic dreams of living and working on farms. 

So what is the approach of the "people of the book?"   Well my grandfather Savel sent his oldest son, Dave off to ag school to learn horticulture.   He went to Pott State Colllege over the state line in Pennsylvania.  When Dave graduated, grandpa bought a piece of farmland in central New Jersey.   The farm never happened.   New Jersey was building a highway, took the land, my grandfather made a good piece of money, and somehow the dream never happened again.

Meanwhile Dave was a willing horticulturalist.   He loved two things in life: growing things, and cooking.  Dave never got married.   He also never exactly had a career.  He was basically a handyman and spent his life fixing things.  The longest running job he had was as a "super" for an apartment building, keeping things running.   When he retired to Miami Beach, he became the president of the Miami horticulture society....pretty good for a little old urban guy from Brooklyn and New Jersey.   When I visited him his backyard was filled with tin cans growing........EVEYTHING!   Forget green thumb.  Plants loved him just the way he loved plants.

I've got many Dave stories I'll save for another blog.   But I' just sitting here with this thought of how Uncle Dave would call his many nieces and nephews "chickie."   As you might think, having uncle Dave around and call you "chickie" was like having another grandparent.....and that's good!   Dave's last gift to his nieces and nephews was a relatively small inheritance he left to them for their college education.   Since he died when they were pretty young, my cousin Ted invested the money and did pretty well with.   By the time the nieces and nephews went to college, they each got a pretty substantial chunk.