This is a photo I took of the back of my Dad’s gardening truck on March 3, 2007. It’s actually parked inside of his garage which is very tightly packed (although fairly well organized) full of all kinds of things. My parents never throw anything away! I guess it comes from growing up in poor farming families who went through WWII and the camps, and then living in Japan just after the war.

The truck itself is a red Toyota truck that used to be my Uncle Paul’s truck. I can’t remember what whether it’s from the late 1980s or 1990s. When my uncle passed away, my father took over his route until he was able to stop, but he still has one customer who begged him to keep working for them. So, now he just has one customer every Friday. Otherwise, he’s retired.

If you look closely at the photo, you can see that there’s actually a desk at the front just next to the cab area. The lawnmower fits just perfectly in the space where a chair should go. The rake, shovel, broom, and other long tools lie across the top of the desk along with the garden hose. The step ladder sits nicely next to the lawnmower, and other smaller supplies are stored in the desk drawers.

It’s a testament to the ingenuity, efficiency, and outside-the-box thinking that seems to characterize most JA gardeners.