We finally got enough tomatoes to make our sauce. We live on this sauce for meals throughout the year, so we’ve been a little worried about the tomatoes. Thankfully, we had just enough today for our first batch. I think we will get enough for one more batch, and that will do us because we still have some left from last year when we had such a bumper crop of tomatoes.
Last year, we processed 125 pounds of tomatoes, had about 75 pounds for farm shares, and gave away 50 pounds. This year, I think we will be fortunate to get 50 pounds in total. Those horn worms came during a time when our son was at music camp, and we were swamped. Those little caterpillars did big damage. But it’s okay because we have just enough for sauce.
It’s a long day making the sauce because you have to pick all the veggies, wash and peel the tomatoes, make a puree out of the onions garlic and peppers, and then it all has to simmer for six hours. Oh, and you have to stir it every 15 minutes. I have just one round to go, and then it’s time to can. It will be a late night, and this is real slow food. It’s totally worth it though. Slow food always is, I think.
Also, the baby chicks are doing so great. They are just perfect!
Ron is stressed about the garden. Every year, he stresses about the corn. Every single year. So far, except for the year the squirrels ate almost all of the corn, the corn always comes, and we have plenty. Hopefully, this year will be the same.
He’s also stressed about the tomatoes, but they are coming. A few of the big tomatoes are ready, but mainly, the Sungolds are here, and they must be one of the most delicious foods I have ever eaten. “Like candy,” our farm share customers said to me today. It’s true. They are just like candy.
Sungolds from the garden are also quite different than the copycats I have had from the grocery store. I actually used to think I didn’t like tomatoes–until I tasted a tomato fresh from the garden. I could not believe the difference in taste.
Sungolds were actually the first food I ever tasted from our garden many years ago. I guess they are maybe what got me hooked on fresh food from the garden. How in the world can you go back to eating tomatoes from the grocery store when you can have them fresh from the garden.
We eat seasonally and locally, but it’s not like I actually set out to be a seasonal eater. I just discovered, after tasting fresh Sungolds, that I would rather wait all year until the Sungolds are ready than eat a bland tomato from the grocery store.
Tonight, for dinner, we had our usual plate of summer vegetables. While I made quesadillas, Ron was putting together this beautiful platter of vegetables with greens and oranges and purples. When he was finished, the plate looked like a vegetable work of art. In early August, we eat fresh vegetables almost every day, and right now, it’s beets, carrots, kohlrabi, and cucumbers. The cucumbers are magnificent this year!
I am amazed at what all Ron has been able to do in the garden despite the heat and drought. The beets are still delicious despite the heat. Every now and then, one is bitter, but the beet we had for dinner tonight was perfect. And the tomatoes are almost ready. We have had a few sun golds, and they are heaven. I feel super fortunate that the tomatoes are coming so well–and they are coming SO well. I read in the local newspaper that, due to drought, a bunch of the tomatoes across the state have blossom rot. It happens when the plants do not get enough water during the blossom stage.
None of Ron’s tomatoes have blossom rot. In fact, like 1/4 of the garden looks like a beautiful tomato jungle. I am pretty sure there must be 1000 tomatoes out there. He grew 6 or 7 varieties, some heirloom.
On top of this, Ron grew extra seedlings that he didn’t have room for in the garden, so everywhere you look in our property, there’s a random tomato plant. I think there are at least 10 giant plants scattered throughout the property–by the drive way, by the front door, in the flower bed, in the corners of the broccoli and cauliflower garden. It’s fantastic. He can’t let a plant die. It seems wrong to him, as it does to me. I hate when it’s time to thin plants.
But nothing is better than the corn. Fresh, organic corn on the cob is maybe my favorite treat from the garden–and it’s almost time. I was outside with the chickens yesterday and looked up at the garden from far away and just suddenly noticed this epic corn. I am so hopeful.
We lost our blueberries to the birds, though it was a bad year for them anyway. Our raspberries didn’t do super well. Ron planted another round of greens, and only about half of the plants didn’t cook in the sun. It’s been a tough year, but the corn seems to be coming perfectly.
I can’t wait!
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I also have to do a quick Ruby update. She’s still living in the garage. I have no idea where she’s laying her eggs now because Juliet, who had gotten VERY bossy, kicked poor Ruby out of her favorite crate for egg laying. There’s another empty crate. Does she use that? No, of course not. That would be too easy.
But Ruby has done the cutest and most interesting thing. She has become an aunt to the babies ditched by Juliet and Kate. They hang out with her and follow her around a bit. The other day, I saw them all dirt bathing in the flower bed. Ron has given up on keeping Ruby out of the flower bed at this point. Now, she’s teaching the youngsters. Somehow, she’s just so quirky and interesting that she can get away with hit. It’s like you just have to let her be who she wants to be.
