In 1939 my urban-raised parents moved from New York City to Pine Plains. My dad, Max Kappel, opened a dental practice, which was needed, and it did well. The next year, they decided to put down roots and build a home on what is now 37 Farview Avenue, which was at the outskirts of the hamlet. They moved into their new yet un-landscaped house with their young son and unborn daughter in the summer of 1941.
The United States entered World War II in December of that year. The following spring, nearly everyone in the village planted a Victory Garden to help with the war effort. Most residents started helping in the garden when they were toddlers. Neither of my parents had ever planted so much as a radish seed. However, not wishing to be seen as unpatriotic and having a large open yard, they decided to plant a vegetable patch.
They hired a farmer to plow a garden space and opened the Montgomery Ward catalog to order supplies. Along with a variety of vegetable seeds, they ordered tomato seedlings. Dad particularly liked tomatoes. They ordered 100 seedlings. When the order arrived, the seedlings were, in Dad’s words, “a dried-up whisk broom.” Confident that these twigs were dead, they bought 24 tomato plants from a local nursery.
After they planted everything, they looked at the tomato “whisk brooms,” looked at their bare yard — what did they have to lose? With no expectations, they planted the 100 twigs. Every twig immediately sprang to life! The summer rains and sunshine of 1942 were perfect for vegetable gardens. In the fertile native soil, gardens thrived. My parents harvested tomatoes. Then they harvested more tomatoes — and more tomatoes! They tried giving some of them away but had little success because our neighbors also had bumper crops. Mom learned how to can and she canned tomatoes. We ate those canned tomatoes for several years! It was a tomato tsunami and an educational experience.
Postscript: In the autumn, one of our neighbors coaxed my mother to enter a jar of her tomatoes into the Future Farmers of America fair canning competition. Mom was reluctant because this was her first venture in canning and her competitors had years of experience. She was assured that the fair organizers liked to have many entries and there was no shame in not winning a ribbon. To the chagrin of the experts, she was awarded first prize!
Trudi Kappel lived in Pine Plains until age 14. After college and a 30-year career at IBM, she is retired and living in Raleigh, N.C. The letter she sent accompanying the tomato story contained this memory as well:
“When you grow up in such a tiny town, you never lose track of it. Barry Chase, who wrote a story about his first date, was my classmate and a 7th grade crush. He probably never knew. His date, Judy Schaehrer, and I played together as toddlers before we started school. When my dad returned from serving in Wales during WWII, Judy was the first person I pointed him out to. I was very shy and not yet talking to him… but, hey, there’s my dad! He shipped out when I was two years old and I wasn’t able to explain just why he was missing.”
The New Pine Plains Herald is interested in hearing of your memories of Pine Plains. If you’ve got a favorite Pine Plains’ story to share, please send 200 to 500 words and one or two photographs to editor@newpineplainsherald.org. If you’ve got a story to share but don’t care for writing, get in touch! We’d be happy to listen to your story and help put it into print. Please include your name, biographical details and contact information.