Never enough zuchini

For anyone who gardens, zucchini is a crop that lies low on the totem pole of achievement, as it seems virtually impossible to kill a plant. Furthermore, when all your other plants die from disease, drought, or in our case this year, rain, the hardy zucchini prevails. When other green thumbs inquire about my year's harvest, I admit to listing zucchini last, as if it didn't even count. And the yield from one plant, well, let's just say there will be plenty to share. After all, how many ways can you cook zucchini? Ah-ha! Such was the impetus for Ludlow, Vt. creating and now hosting its 11th annual Vermont State Zucchini Festival this weekend, August, 16-17.

It's all things zucchini this weekend with events such as the Zuke-Head Contest, Largest Zuke contest, and very popular Zukapult Contest. Yup, rig a contraption at home, tote it along to Ludlow and see who can hurl that green bomb the furthest, with awards also going to greatest splat factor! Wasteful? Well, yes, but like I said, zucchini is always in abundance, so this will be when it's ok to play with your food.

Besides zucchinis, this festival has a duck race, amusement rides, arts and crafts, live music, children's activities and ice cream social. Activities are spread throughout Main Street and end at Veterans Memorial Park. Do not dismiss all that you can do with a zuke! Ooh, the event is free.