“All of us at some time or other, need help. Whether we are giving or receiving help, each one of us has something valuable to bring to this world. That’s one of the things that connects us as neighbors in our own ways, each one of us is a giver and a receiver.” —Fred Rogers, host of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”
It was in the early ’50s that I held a yard sale to raise funds for a young married couples’ group who were parishioners of St. Francis Catholic Church in Watsonville. The sale was a success, and I remember from the proceeds of the sale, we bought a set of China dinnerware for the St. Francis Catholic Church parish rectory. I also remember the work involved.
My next venture into this foray was 15 years later. I had remarried and wanted to rid my new home of any reminders of my new hubby’s former marriage. I held a Garage Sale.
As part of this sale, held on a Saturday (purposefully while he was at work), was a clothes hamper that had a pink Flamenco Bird emblazoned on its front.
I despised that hamper as it was to me, ugly and was part of his past that I wanted gone, and as soon as my sweet hubby’s car left the driveway, I hauled that “hamper” out to the sale with a $1.00 sign on it. No one was interested.
In the meantime, I was busy, and my hubby returned. I soon discovered the hamper was gone…hubby had noticed and returned the hamper to its place in the bathroom. I took notice, returned the hamper to the sale, and placed a “free” sign on it, and sometime during that day, the hamper disappeared. I was happy, my hubby was not. It seems that hamper was full of my hubby’s week-full of dirty laundry; Fruit of the Loom briefs were in that hamper. My hubby never let me forget my dastardly deed.
Over the next 20 years of marriage, I have had two garage sales, and each time my sweet hubby has said while shaking his head… “Colly seems so happy to take a 20-dollar item and is ecstatic when she sells it for a dollar in a garage sale.”
During the Great Depression era, farms in the Midwest were undergoing months of drought, and those farmers headed West, having to find other ways to feed their families. Only their most precious belongings were piled onto their truck beds, and the rest of their furniture was sold off in yard sales much like the moving sales of today.
Australia, in May of 2010, held 126 garage sales on the same day, hoping to reduce the amount of goods being hauled to the dumpsites. People responded and bought each other’s castaways.
In the United States, churches began holding rummage sales for charitable causes, and today, an estimated 9 million garage sales are held each year.
Remember our long-ago drive-in movie theaters? That acreage became a place for the business of “Flea Markets” to spring forth. “Stalls” were rented out and you could find just about anything there for 10 cents on the dollar.
Empty barns and animal feed stores became stalls where you could find old furniture, clocks and ancient farm equipment…in Aptos on Trout Gulch Road was the Antique Faire, where one could find just about everything that “Grandma” had in her kitchen.
There was the metal Quonset Hut in Soquel in the ’60s across from the white steepled church that was packed full of more antiques.
And now, once again, I have collected a garage full of stuff for a sale to benefit our Damians Ladder nonprofit organization that will not put money in “my” pocket but will allow the volunteer Handymen who donate their time, to purchase tools and supplies to make repairs to the homes of our low-income seniors and people with disabilities, enabling them to remain in their homes safe and secure.
I have asked our generous neighbors to donate like-new items to this sale and the response has been overwhelmingly successful.
If you, dear readers, would like to contribute to or come to the sale, it will be on Sept. 21 and 22 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 8215 Hermosa Ave. in Ben Lomond. For more information, email [email protected].
The following recipe for a potful of Taco Soup will be the one you will turn to when time is short and dinner can be made the day before or in the early morning in your crockpot. This soup will be enjoyed by all the workers helping with the Damians Ladder sale. If you are there, ask for a sample!
Taco Soup for Eight
3 lbs. 80/20 ground chuck meat
1 large onion, diced.
1 cup diced celery
3 cloves minced garlic
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 28oz. can diced tomatoes.
2 14oz cans pinto beans, drained
2 14 oz. cans of kidney beans, drained
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 can 4oz size of diced green chilies
2 cups frozen corn
4 Tbsp. Better than Bullion Chicken stock stirred into 1 cup hot water
2 packages of Taco Seasoning, any brand.
In a large frying pan break up meat. Fry lightly in oil until no longer pink. Using a slotted spoon, remove meat to a large soup pot.
In juice from meat, sauté onions, celery and garlic together for 15 minutes and add to meat in soup pot.
Add the rest of the ingredients to pot.
Taste, and then add s/p as needed.
Bring to a boil and then simmer at least 1 hour. Serve with Frito chips.
Colly Gruczelak, a Ben Lomond resident, loves people and loves to cook. Contact her at [email protected].
