Sharing the Harvest and other memories

So my niece Bridget brought me a pint of pickled beets that she and Jaci had put up a few weeks ago. I wish I would have taken a photo of them so pretty looking in the jar to post on here. Too late for that now. They are gone. Anyway, can I just say woooohooooo! Luckily, nobody else in my house will even touch beets; so I got to eat the whole thing myself and they were wonderful.

As I munched down on this much appreciated delicacy I had been given, my mind wandered back to my youth (Yes I am getting old and my mind wanders alot these days!) and the huge garden that my grandparents (the Myers) used to raise each summer. I really can't remember if I have any photos of their garden or not. Hopefully I do somewhere. I remember they had rows and rows and rows of stuff in it--cucumbers, tomatoes, beets, carrots, beans, chard, peas, squash, potatoes, corn, cabbage and much much more. It looked much like this photo only larger.

I remember going to their house in the summer and my grandma would have a bucket full of tomatoes she had picked sitting in the corner of the kitchen. We would wash them off, sprinkle a little salt on them and devour several of them. Sometimes we would make the trek down to the city to home can several of the items they had raised in their garden. She canned everything including the fish they caught and the deer they killed. The shelves in their basement looked much like this photo.
I'm sure I gained my love of vegetables from them and their willingness to share their bountiful harvest with us each year. My grandparents were wonderful people and I appreciate so much the many things they taught me through the years. This is my Grandma and Grandpa Myers--Ora and Levi--shortly before they were married in 1929 and then in 1966 when they were older.