Cuke Gone Crazy!

Ever since we moved into our little piece of heaven at the river ranch, Steve has been dreaming about having a vegetable garden. In other words, he has been dropping hints for Lori to grow a vegetable garden for him! I've been hesitant since I remember attempts of vegetable gardening as a kid, with very little success. Not to mention that our cows have free roam of our property and could help themselves to anything for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. A few months ago the girls and I were in Home Depot and wasting time, wandering around the garden center. Brooke got excited at the sight of a tomato plant and I figured, what the heck, we'll give it a try. So they each picked out a veggie (tomato and cucumber). The plants sat in my kitchen window for about two weeks as I waited for the veggie fairy to plant them for me, but she must be busy because she never showed and I ended up having to plant them. I planted them inside a large animal kennel we have by the house, in hopes to keep them protected from the animals. The tomato took a turn for the worse and is barely hanging on, but the cucumber plant has gone crazy! It has taken over the chain link fence and is growing more and more every week. There are several little gherkin pickle-sized cukes growing and then there is this one enormous cucumber that got to be about 14 inches long! I wasn't quite sure when to pick it since it wasn't getting very green, but I couldn't see it growing much longer and the ants were starting to make a meal of it. So, this evening we plucked it off the vine.
I don't know if this picture gives you the proper perspective, but this sucker was huge! We had to cut off a good portion of the bottom due to an ant hole, but the rest was ready for eatin'! Brooke helped me peel it and we sliced it up dug in. It was surprisingly tasty! The irony in it all is that Steve doesn't like cucumbers. So the man behind the fresh veggie campaign did not get to enjoy our first harvest!