The Spaghetti Farm

 

Sue had gotten a book from the library on spaghetti farming, and the more she read up on it, the more she wanted to do it.  Her sister Leeann already owned the stretch of land just west of the interstate, and hadn’t ever done anything with it.  The book had a lot of good information in it and several good hints, so before Sue returned it to the library, she wrote down the author’s name and the publisher’s information and ordered her own copy from Amazon.

After convincing Leeann to lease her the property, Sue set out to talk to the banker.  She was going to need some rather expensive equipment and some initial supplies to get started, so she would need more money than she currently had.  What Sue lacked in collateral she made up for in enthusiasm and the banker could see that.  The bank manager just seemed to know there was no way Sue would fail at this business.  She got her loan.

That first summer was spent prepping the land.  Using a Massey Ferguson 571 Tractor, Sue scraped off the top surface of her stretch of Interstate land.  Not only had there been weeds, but debris as well.  There were all kinds of litterie things along the roadside, like beer cans, candy wrappers, the occasional hubcap and a few body parts.  Sue donated everything she collected to the local landfill.

In the meantime, her order of Italian seasonings had arrived, which included  large sacks of Parsley, Oregano, Basil and Fennel.  Using her John Deer tiller, she blended the spices into the thick, rich tomato sauce mixture she had spread across the farm, sprinkling olive oil as she went.  Using breadsticks, Sue marked off her property line at each end and set long stretches of red and white checkered tablecloth material as a barrier along the edge of the Interstate to prevent any future debris from coming over onto her farm.

Not unlike sourdough starter, pasta noodles must be carefully trimmed from a source noodle.  Once gathered, there is only so much time to get them spliced and into the sauce before growing season begins.   Just as Sue was well into the splicing project, a health inspector showed up and began to question Sue about the various body parts she had donated to the landfill.  As Sue was giving the inspector the details of what she had come across, the inspector was sniffing the air and looking a little confused.

He finally interrupted Sue and asked, “Where’s your garlic?”