Kathi Wright-Special to the Sun

You can take the girl away from the farm, but you cannot take the farm away from the girl. Vicky Huston was born in Mt. Vernon, Illinois and moved to rural West Palm Beach when she was five. She remembers the beauty of bountiful gardens, and her mother and grandmother in the kitchen canning the fresh-from-the-vine fruits and vegetables. They raised chickens and gathered the fresh eggs. She even remembers that, as a small girl,  There were large fluorescent green beetles about two inches long everywhere. I would catch one, tie a string to it and then watch it fly in circles all around me. She laughs, and her eyes reflect the color of a Midwest sky. Vicky has re-created her own farm girl past. With a green thumb and a definite knowledge of how to use it, she has surrounded herself with her own  garden of eatin . How does her garden grow? With herbs and strawberries; tomatoes, cucumbers and squash; grapes and artichokes; Kentucky wonder beans and sugar snap peas; beets and onions, garlic and potatoes. There are plum trees and pear trees; figs and peaches. Not one to waste, she cans much of the food she grows, just as her mother and grandmother did, it comes naturally to her.Huston refuses to use any pesticides or inorganic fertilizers on her garden.  It is not good for the kids. I let the chickens in the garden in the spring and they eat a lot of bugs, says Vicky. Several varieties of chickens that lay a palette of different colored eggs share the property, much to the delight of her four grandchildren. Her chickens do not eat any feed containing hormones or chemicals. That green thumb of hers has her growing roses amongst the peach trees. Old-fashioned morning glories twine around the arborvitae along the drive. In the flowerbed that borders the front porch, she has grown a riotous blend of colorful and fragrant flowers. Four o clocks, cosmos, morning glories, butterfly bushes, sweet broom, rambling and climbing roses, and jasmine fill this space. She has recently taken up the hobby of painting with acrylics, teaching herself as she goes along. Her grandsons are helping to keep her paintbrushes busy and wet.  Paint me an anaconda! requested one grandson. Another requested so many different animals in one painting that the final picture looked like a crazy swamp!  They are helping me learn how to paint and master the basics, she says with a loving smile. Huston lives in this farm girl setting with her husband Rocky, young daughter Tori, a cat named Tinkerbell, and a dog named Chicote (who eats any fruit that grows on his side of the fence!) They have carved out their own little slice of Paradise, just up the road in Bodfish.