By Bev Davis
Register-Herald Senior Editor
August 12, 2008 09:04 pm
—
Johnny Tessaro is living a legacy.
His garden on Old Eccles Road in Beckley is the fruit of all the advice and the example his father, the late Vick Tessaro, left him.
“I grow my garden in memory of my dad. He was very good with the soil. I realize that now,” the younger Tessaro said. “He always had beautiful produce, especially his tomatoes and pumpkins. When my wife and I went to visit, he was always in one of his gardens, not matter how hot it was, sweat pouring off his head. His tee shirt and pants would be soaked with sweat.”
From early spring to late fall, Tessaro’s dad kept busy with gardening. He grew his own plants, set them out, cultivated and sprayed them, staked his tomatoes — all in preparation for the State Fair of West Virginia.
“Getting ready for the fair took about a week,” Tessaro said. “Mom’s kitchen and living room looked like a produce market. Nobody was allowed to touch anything. He wanted everything a certain way. I can understand why. He was very proud of all that hard work and of all the ribbons he brought back from the fair every year. For 30-some years, he lived for that.”
Tessaro also remembers a father who was generous and a source of good advice.
“Sometimes when I’m working out in the garden, something my dad told me will come to mind. I’ll remember how he told me to do something. Sometimes, I think he’s right there along side me trying to help me,” the retired electrician said.
Tessaro’s dad loved working in the garden and managed to spend many of his last days tending to plants.
“The last year of his life, he crawled on his hands and kees to weed that garden,” said Mary Tessaro, Johnny’s wife. “After the gardening season was over, I believe he just didn’t have the will to go on because working in the garden was the thing he loved more than anything. I am so proud to see Johnny following in his daddy’s footsteps.”
Just as his father before him, Tessaro is exhibiting some of his favorite vegetables at the West Virginia State Fair this week.
“He’s brought home all kinds of blue ribbons, just like his father did,” Mary Tessaro said.
Tessaro said he doesn’t believe he’ll ever top his late father’s accomplishments, but hopes to continue gardening as long as he can.
“I’ll try and carry on the family tradition at the fair because I think he would want tme to do that,” he said. “I never got to tell my dad that we all thought he was the best. I hope he can hear us saying that now. Dad, in loving memory of you, I plant my garden.”
But what’s to become of all the ripe squash, tomatoes, green beans, peppers, kohlrabi, cauliflower and pumpkins?
Cooking them and preserving some for winter helps the family enjoy the bountiful harvest all year.
One of Mary’s specialties is hot peppers and wieners.
“My family loves them,” she said. “They live for this time of year to get them.”
Here are a few of her favorite recipes for serving up fresh garden vegetables:
2 gallons hot peppers
2 pounds wieners
1 pint oil
1 pint sugar
1 pint vinegar
2 bottles regular catsup
Equal parts of oil, vinegar and sugar
Cook in liquid until tender. Pack in jars and seal.
1 zuchinni squash
Salt and pepper to taste
Garlic powder to taste
Butter
Quarter squash lengthwise. Rub in butter. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder. Put on grill, medium heat for about 20 minutes.
1 large green tomato
Red pepper flakes to taste
Flour
Salt and pepper
Cooking oil
Slice tomato about 1/4-inch thick. Add red pepper, salt and black pepper and roll in flour.
Cook in medium-heated oil for 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
Sausage links
Tomato sauce
1 green bell pepper
1 hot yellow wax pepper
1 medium onion
1 garlic clove
1 cup water
Brown sausage in hot oil.
Cut green pepper, hot pepper, onion and garlic in small pieces.
Simmer tomato sauce and water and add the peppers, onion and garlic. Add salt, pepper and sausage links and simmer for 15 minutes.
— E-mail: bdavis@register-herald.com
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Photos
Johnny Tessaro plants a garden every year and takes his produce to the State Fair of West Virginia in memory of his father, the late Vick Tessaro, who taught him just about everything there is to know about growing prize-winning vegetables. he Register-Herald