Bye Bye Ducky, and Hello Tomatoes...Again

70 and very muggy, rain most of the day, heavy at times. Warmed to about 75.

I am so enjoying this rainy weather although the grass is growing like crazy. The water table is certainly being replenished thanks to Tropical Storm Fred. I'm wondering where Grace will go? Hopefully she will benefit some other water-starved area.

I mentioned a while back that a neighbor gave us two chicks and a duckling, didn't I? Now, our place is not suited at all for ducks. There's no pond or creek, and our little run is often dry. Besides the lack of water, a bird of any time free-ranging here is easy pickings for the many other critters we share this habitat with--foxes, raccoons, hawks, possums, weasels, minks, skunks, etc, etc. So what could we do with a duck?

The problem was solved today when my son flagged me on a Facebook Marketplace post. A lady was looking for a duck to be a companion to the one she had. I messaged her and after a little discussion, it was settled. Our duck found a new home. The lady is delighted with her free duck, and we're happy it has a good home. It was so cute, though. I was really tempted to keep it but common sense told me not to even think about it.

Other than the duck business, it's been an uneventful day. We made more tomato juice, this time using the Black Krim tomatoes exclusively. It is the most delicious juice we've ever made. The black tomatoes have a deeper color and are so flavorful. 

A Black Krim tomato, with a little garden dirt still on it. I love the color variations of this variety.

We also canned some whole tomatoes--these were Better Boys--and you can see the difference in color between them. The only additions to the juice were salt, pepper and a little hot sauce, so nothing to cause a color change.

About the only other thing we got into was dicing peppers for dehydrating, and Larry did some weed-eating when the rain stopped while I packed eBay sales and listed a couple things. I finished painting an enamel top table that Larry made by replacing the very weird top on a nice wood table with a porcelain top from our stock. Yes, we have several of those tops stored away, just for this purpose. I'd intended to take this table to our booth, but now I am thinking of keeping it. I could use another work surface in the kitchen; today we were hard put to find space for all the stuff we were working on.

There was a nice surprise in the mail, something I forgot I'd ordered. Who would have through flowers could be shipped like this? I will use these to replace the worn-out pansies in a few planters. A little surprise gift to myself.

Tomorrow is booth day, and a break from the kitchen. But there's a half bushel of apples waiting on me for Saturday, and I'm sure there will be more tomatoes and cucumbers too. It's a bountiful time of year, and what a blessing it is to have it. And what joy to be able to make sandwiches like this!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Covid Journal, Day 154: Tomatoes and Peaches

Wonderful 59 degrees this morning, crisp and bright morning.

I was up to my elbows in peaches yesterday. It was a hard day; these were free peaches from a neighbor's tree and had a lot of insect damage, bruising, etc. So much cutting, trimming, and care. Some were cling, which means that the seed does not come away from the pulp easily--meaning more cutting. And they're small. As I cut the peaches up, I dropped the pieces into a pot of water with some lemon juice in it to keep them from turning brown. 

I ended up with 5 quarts, and then took the water I'd put them in, cooked it down, and made it into 5 pints of peach jelly. The water was full of peach juice and bits of pulp and made a pretty jelly. This was water I might have normally tossed out, but this time I was able to use it, given the amount of juiciness in these peaches.

The other thing I've been working on has been fun: dehydrated tomatoes. I've wanted to try this for years, and finally this year I have time to do it. The tray above holds a couple Black Krim slices and the rest are a large pink tomato that puzzles me because I don't remember planting pink tomatoes. It may be from a volunteer plant, as we had several good healthy volunteers this year.

There are about 10 tomatoes of various sizes in this pint jar. I could probably pack it fuller, but this is fine. These are the same as the popular sun-dried tomatoes; I could cover them with olive oil to store them too. I may try that with the batch I'm drying today. This is a great way to use up small amounts of tomatoes--we're getting tomatoes ripening in dribbles, which makes it difficult to make things like pasta sauce, but I can dry a small batch every day.

So back to the kitchen for more peaches. I'm about a third of the way through, so I see a couple more long days ahead of me. Is it worth it? I'm not sure, truthfully. But here are the peaches, and here I am, so that's all there is to it.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Covid Journal, Day 139: Tomato Time

67 this morning, a light shower then cool and hazy. Never made it to 80 all day, and not too humid, a real treat.

This morning we were out early to pick tomatoes at a local farm. Came home with five bushels, enough to keep us busy all afternoon and probably half of tomorrow. We're making all of these into tomato juice, which we love, because we have plenty of whole tomatoes, salsa and pasta sauce already. 

These are tomorrow's work.

And one of the many pots today, cooked down and ready for the Squeezo.

The day's work done, and then all the cleanup to do--my least favorite part. This is one of three Squeezo's or Victorio's we own. I cannot remember how I ended up with three, but oh well. There is really nothing like them for tomatoes and applesauce.

We had a brief visit with my son Derek and his daughter and grandson on the way home, then this evening some neighbors came over bringing a gift of food--a favor we returned by giving them corn and cucumbers. I love this time of year, with such a bounty of food to share.

And today was Zoom poetry workshop too, so I got to see other friends as we shared and worked on our work. What pleasure this gives me. This group keeps me motivated to write, and I find myself challenged to try to be a better write because of them. They are all better poets than I will ever be, but I am learning a great deal from them, and they are so generous with their time and input. The best part? I get to read and hear them read their poems. Bliss.

Tomorrow another visit as the friend who bought the Sellers cabinet will be coming to pick it up. We'll share lunch with her and her son, all part of business, of course. Have I said how much I like this time of year? Well, especially since it's no longer July 😊

So a nice day today even if we did work pretty hard, and another one coming up tomorrow. Life is good.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes

Yesterday was more tomato work--this time pasta sauce. We ended up with 33 pints of goodness, thanks to Mrs. Wage's. We also put away 7 pints of corn, in the freezer instead of canning because I was too tired to do that. And I wanted some firepit time in the evening.

It's funny how we can be so worn out, but light the fire, pour a glass of wine and sit out on the patio with the dogs, and soon the fatigue just turns into sleepiness and a guarantee of a good night's sleep.

This morning we were back out early to get more tmatoes and to buy jars and also to look at a couple of things for our booths. We came home with a vanload.

This is why I love my van! A lovely oak mantle, old steamer trunk, 2 chairs, 3 bushels of tomatoes, boxes of jars, a few other groceries, and still plenty of room for more if we wanted to.

Now it's all unloaded and I need to get back in the kitchen. But here's a link to a post I wrote some time back, all about tomatoes: 

Love Apples


Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Another Story, and Home News

This conversation excerpt from two years ago showed up on my Facebook timeline. I don't remember who she was, and I had forgotten this story, so I was glad when it popped up this morning:

The lady behind us in line at the store said, "I went to Sissonville High School. When I was 15 I had a boy friend. I wanted to get him a gift but didn't have any money. School lunch was 25 cents back then, but if I cleared tables after lunch I ate for free. I saved my quarters until I had enough money to buy him a $25.00 sweater at the Diamond Department store. It was my only experience with the Diamond, but I married my boyfriend that year. That was 56 years ago and we're still married."

What a happy start to my day this story was! 

We were up early (for us) today. A friend of one of my sons had tomatoes to give away--right when I was surprised to find there was not one jar of tomatoes left in the cellar. That's the first time that's happened in years! So we went to pick tomatoes this morning and came home with four bushels. We put up 54 quarts and still have a bushel or maybe a little less than that. Those will go into pasta sauce. We hope to get more and put up some tomato juice too, but we will have to buy jars. I couldn't believe it but we're out of quart jars! We have given away a lot of things in the past year--pickles, apple butter, cider, etc--and often the jars can't be brought back. So we're going to have to bite the bullet and buy more. Since we still have cider and applesauce and pickles to make, I think we're going to need a LOT more jars. 

The corn is beginning to ripen. We had the first picking for dinner Sunday and it was delicious. So along with tomatoes, looks like we'll be putting up corn. I freeze corn as we like it better than canned corn, but I might just can some this year--in pints, since we're out of quarts. You never know when the freezer might go down, or the power be off for long stretches.



Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Ugly Tomatoes

Apparently ugly tomatoes are a thing this year. Who knew?

What are ugly tomatoes? Chances are you've grown some, if you grow the oldtime, heritage varieties. There are several things that the term ugly tomato includes:

All sizes and shapes!

1. Color weirdness: If you grow the black or purple varieties, you know all about this--the tops will stay green or greenish while the rest is dead ripe. It's common in tomatoes like Black Crim, Black Prince, and Cherokee Purple. We grew Black Crim and Cherokee Purple this year, and have had prime examples of the odd coloring.

Black cherry tomatoes. Surprisingly, most of these are ripe.

2. Cracking: The large-fruit varieties of tomatoes are especially susceptible to this condition, and this year's weather has been prime for it. Lots of rain and warm temperatures make the tomatoes grow so fast they literally crack their skins. Better pick and eat as soon as possible, or they'll spoil!

A few of these tomatoes are showing "cat-facing"

3. Cat-Facing: This term is new to me, but I know just what it describes--those tough, dark, brownish bits that occur in oddly shaped tomatoes. These don't hurt anything except that we have to cut them out because they're not tasty at all, and that means losing some of the good tomato meat in the process. This is caused when the plants are exposed to low temperatures, like below 50 degrees. We had a lot of our plants out early, and then in mid-May we had some late frosts, so our plants, at least some of them, were affected. But honestly? It seems to me that big, big tomatoes almost always have these places on them.

Lots of ugly tomatoes!

4. Crazy shapes: the heirloom varieties are especially likely to grow odd ridges, deep valleys, weird protuberances that look like noses, etc. I love these bumpy, strange tomatoes because they taste so good! The round red tomato so favored for years has seen its heyday, I think. Now people are discovering the rich variety of flavors available to them and exploring all kinds of other tomatoes--and most of these delicious oldtime types are not readily available in the supermarket so people are seeking them from local growers. All of which is good news in my book.

This tomato shows some cat-facing, the odd shape, a little color variation, and it cracked in the stem area when it was picked. Four for four!

Are you growing any ugly tomatoes this year?

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Tomatoes in the Attic

Ah, tomatoes!

It's that time of year--at last! Our tomatoes are later this year for some reason. Perhaps all the rain in June and early July slowed down pollination. We've been getting a few here and there, enough to keep us happy, but now the boom is on. Yellow, pink, black and red are filling up the table on the deck as Larry brings them in. He prefers picking before they're completely ripe; I like to leave them on the vine as long as possible but since he's doing the picking, I'm not complaining.


I have always loved tomatoes. Some years we plant as many as 14 varieties, but this year I think we're down to 7 or 8. My absolute favorites are the black varieties--Black Prince and Black Crim. This year I could only find black cherry tomato plants so that's what I bought, along with some Cherokee Purple that seem like black tomatoes to me. Next favorites are the big pinks and deep golden yellows. This isn't to say I don't like reds! But these others are pretty much only available to us in summer, so I really look forward to them.

Our house at 514 East Quarry St, later renumbered
as 8807 Quarry Road, in Manassas, VA. We were
hard on that old place! You can see the attic window
in this photo.

I remember when I was 11, I would sneak down to the garden and get a half dozen tomatoes at a time, hide them in my pockets or wherever I could, then go up into the attic before Mom caught me. It was a trick to get into the attic because there was no ladder and the ceilings in our house were 12 fet high. First I had to position the bedroom door just right. Then I would get my feet on the doorknobs. From there I could pull myself up to the top of the door, and from there stretch to reach the attic opening. I would get my hands on the sides of the opening, and pull myself up until I could get a foot on top of the door trim. I could lift the attic trapdoor with my head, and then pull/push myself up and inside to fall on the floor. Now as I read this, it seems impossible, but at that age I was agile and strong and it seemed easy once I figured it out.

Once inside the attic I would tiptoe carefully on the boards that spanned the rafters, being careful not to let my foot slip and go through the lath-and plaster ceiling of the room below. That would have disaster! I'd have been in bad trouble and even worse, I'd have given away my hiding place in the dark, unfinished, hot attic.

There were three secrets, I discovered, in the attic: First, if I stretched out on the floor in front of the half-circle window at the front of the house, there was a most delicious, steady breeze. It was cool there even on the hottest northern Virginia days.

Me, at about the age I was in this post.
I remember Mom trimmed my bangs, and as she tried
to even them up, they just got shorter and shorter!

Then there were the boxes and boxes of old books. These books had belonged to my grandparents and when they moved a lot of their things ended up in our house, and up in our attic. There I discovered Janice Holt Giles, an author I still enjoy re-reading. There were many other books, all best-sellers from the 1930's, 40's and 50's. I read all that summer, eating tomatoes or sometimes Concord grapes when those came ripe.

And the third secret: from that half-round arched window, I could just barely see, if I positioned myself right, the blue Bull Run Mountains. I would look at them as I read Giles' The Enduring Hills, imagining myself living in a cabin in the mountains. How little I knew then that that is exactly what would happen.


Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Abundance in the Gardens, Abundance in Storytelling

 The gardens are booming right now. The new hens are already laying and apples, peaches and grapes are hanging heavy. ready to ripen in a few weeks. It feels like the garden of Eden here right now, with fresh fruit and vegetables there for the picking, flowers in bloom and beautiful, clear, dry weather for a change.

This is a fresh load of tomatoes picked by Larry this morning. Lots of pink ones in with the reds and yellows. I think we only planted 4 pink tomato plants, but they are sure doing well.

Today is salsa-making day. I have a few hours to spare from working on stories to do the salsa and make some dill pickles--the cucumbers are coming in with a vengeance now. The old vines revived when the weather cooled and the second planting is beginning to bear. Always, of course, the gardens peak when I will not be here to process the bounty. Such is life.

We eat tomatoes three meals a day at this time of year, and in between meals too. Sliced for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, sliced for dinner and eaten whole in between. Such richness!

This morning I prepared a country breakfast, complete with fried potatoes, bacon, eggs, tomatoes and fried apples. The apples were amazing. These were some golden delicious that had been around so long the skins were wrinkled--but they were still sound. I cored and sliced them, leaving the skins on. Then I heated oil in my cast iron skillet, added the apples and stirred them quickly to prevent them from sticking to the pan (that's important--hot oil and stirring to coat the apples with the oil). I let them cook a while, then added cinnamon, honey and vanilla. My oh my. I've never added vanilla before but you can bet I will always do so now. They are delicious.

The chickens are laying those little pullet eggs; they're small and dense with deep yellow yolks. I missed our good eggs and was impatient for these new hens to start laying. They obliged me by starting a full month before I was expecting them to. Good girls!

Back to the kitchen with me. Tomatoes are sitting in hot water so I can peel the skins and make salsa. Then I'll take a while to work on stories for the Inland Waterways Festival in Marietta, Ohio tomorrow, and then I'll start a batch of pickles. While those are sitting in salty ice water, I'll be packing for next week's trip to Elkins, WV to teach Appalachian storytelling for the Augusta Heritage Series. This will be a full, fun day--especially if my cousin Les in England calls and we can talk about my trip to England in September.


Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Ack!! Forgot the Photos!

I was in Athens, OH today, restocking our booth there, and I forgot to take pictures! So you will not see the Hoosier cabinet we moved in there, or all the other changes I made. See my sad face? I swear sometimes I think I do all that arranging just to share it here.

I also made some stops at thrift shops along the way. My goodness, I did well. Too well, maybe; the van is just as full now as it was when I left this morning. Oh dear. Maybe I can take a few photos of the booty tomorrow.

The good news is all the booths did very well in July, our best month ever in fact. We've sold everything from tiny items to big pieces of furniture, glassware to wheelbarrows, wineglasses and woodenware. I'll be interested to see the month's statements so I can see just what the hot items were.

Now it's time to turn my focus to the next two big things on my schedule: The Inland Waterways Festival in Marietta, OH this weekend and the Augusta Heritage Series Appalachian Storytelling Workshop I'll be teaching next week. So I'm dusting off river stories and river lore, and digging into my Appalachian storehouse to find good things to share with my students.

Tonight I'll rest, though, and let my mind turn over all the possibilities for these two events. And eat tomatoes. Definitely eat tomatoes. Our gardens runneth over right now, and of course I cannot take the time to can until I return home mid-month. That's how it is, isn't it? But it's okay. The cellar is still very full from last year's canning so I can let it ride this year and just enjoy eating the fruit's of our labor fresh.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Love Apples

 They've taken their time coming in this year, but that might be a good thing with the heat and drought in July. We got concerned and bought tomatoes from the truck farm across the river in Ohio, but I think maybe we should have waited. On the other hand, I know I have plenty so that's a good thing.

This basket holds Black Krim and Pink Oxhearts, both heirloom varieties and some of the very best tasting tomatoes I know--especially the black ones. They don't look ripe, do they? But they are, so soft and sweet and full of juice, with a black look to the insides when they are cut. Black Krim and Black Prince are my official favorite eating tomatoes now, along with the little yellow pear ones that are also coming in abundantly these days. The jars have Mortgage Lifters and a few Jet Stars in them, both good canning tomatoes.

Tomatoes, you might know, were once thought to have aphrodisiacal properties and were called "the devil's fruit" by the Catholic Church.. Meaning you might be looking at your mate a little differently after eating them. Early herbalists believed that tomatoes were poisonous and many people avoided eating them; you can read more about the tomato's checkered past on this great site, The Tomato Guru. This might have been because the tomato is a member of the family if nightshades, and some of its relatives in this family can be toxic. An early herbalist named John Gerard wrote a book in which he cautioned against eating tomatoes and his words carried weight in the 1600's in England and the early US colonies.

According to the website Tomato Casual, "It is said that if you place a large red tomato on your windowsill, it will scare away evil spirits. You could also choose to place it over the hearth — this is supposed to bring prosperity to the house. Another way to gain money is to place a tomato peeling over your door, which will bring money within four days." I think I might have to try that tomato peeling over the door. (I found another source that noted the tomato on the windowsill belief as coming from Italy : "Tomatoes are also the subject of superstitions. “Some Italians,” reports one treatise, “put a large red tomato on the mantel to bring prosperity to the house. When placed on the window-sill, or in any opening, it wards off evil spirits, and protects the occupants of the house” (DeLys 1989, 249).")



For more fascinating reading about tomatoes, check out these sites:

The origin of the Mortgage Lifter tomato variety: did you know it came from Logan, West Virginia?

Then there's Aunt Ruby's Green Tomato, which apparently started out in Germany--where tomatoes were called "wolf peaches," and there is a folktale, according to many sources, in which witches turned people into wolves by feeding them tomatoes. I've yet to track down that elusive story, though.

A lesson plan with a story about how food gets to our tables.

What would spaghetti be without tomatoes? Check out Storytelling, Cooking and Kids for the words to On Top of Spaghetti and all kinds of other great activities to do with kids in the kitchen.

Have you ever heard of beating your tomato plants with a broom? Hmmm....

Happy reading! It's time for me to get in the kitchen Today's to-do: start the making of red cabbage relish.




Copyright 2012 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Last Tomatoes

 These will probably be the last tomatoes we get from our garden this year. While all the other plants gave up in the intense heat and drought of September, the little yellow pear tomato plants continued to brave the elements and set fruit.

Larry picked these yesterday, and they are just perfect--sweet and tart, cold from the cool night temperatures and best of all--bite-sized. I want to hoard them and eat just one a day to make them last but I know they won't keep that long.

There is always next year to look forward to, I suppose. Insert big sigh here. Without a doubt, these tasty little tomatoes are one of my top five varieties-in no particular order, the others are Brandywine, Amish Paste, Hillbilly, and German Pinks. All heritage varieties, actually.

This is, I suppose the official good-bye to summer. In two months the new seed catalogs will arrive and we will plan, once again, the perfect garden in our minds, with neat rows, careful stakes, mulch, trellises, and not a weed to be seen. I have yet to actually see that garden but in my mind it is a thing of beauty and each year there is the possibility that it may become reality, this time.

Hope springs eternal in the gardener's breast, does it not?

Tomato Tasting

Jaime felt well enough today to go to a little festival in Fairmont today. A tomato-tasting festival.

You heard right. Tomato tasting. And it was a taste treat.

I saw a little blurb in the local paper, so Jaime looked up the directions. The festival was to be held at High Gate, the former home of a coal baron in Fairmont that echoed the timbered look of old English architecture. The festival was held on the grounds of the carriage house of the original estate, and the tasting itself was inside the carriage house.

The grounds are beautiful. Fairmont has a strong Italian heritage and stellar stonework is evident throughout the city. At High Gate, stone walls, arches, steps and walls abounded. James and Michaela had a great time climbing up and over the walls as we explored the various vendors.

We found a soap maker who had lovely rose petal soap and Shea butter hand lotion as well as handmade birdhouses.

Worms!

We talked to people promoting worm farms, looked at the screen house full of Monarch butterflies, bought lemon thyme plants.

Then we found the tasting. Oh. My. There were tomatoes of all sizes and varieties. Most were the heirloom varieties. I saw many of the kinds I grew this year--Cherokee Beefsteak, Strawberry Beefsteak, German Pink, Amish Paste, Roma, Yellow Pear, Brandywine, Mortgage Lifter, Hillbilly. Our favorite was one grown by my friend and Master Gardener June Riffle called Zebra, I think. It was a yellow and green-striped tomato and was tangy and full of flavor. On the list for next year's greenhouse.

June's Zebra Tomato won third place! We think it should have been first.

Seeing June and her daughters was a surprise pleasure. They were selling breads and jams and other items. June is a storyteller, part of the duo called Mountain Echoes. She's also a great gardener and beekeeper.

Lasagna class was getting to start, but we had to leave.

We didn't stay for the many workshops and lectures scheduled for the day.

I left thinking that many other small towns could offer a similar festival. It was laid-back, interesting and unusual, and made me want to try a few new varieties next year. The classes were interesting too--we wanted to stay for the one on tomato diseases and treatments, but it was time to go home to make Aaron's dinner. Which was Eggplant Parmesan, good homemade bread from the festival and a salad featuring Jaime's Strawberry Beefsteak and German Pink tomatoes.

A Good Sunday, and Easy Cheesy Tomato Things

Today has been busy--after company left, Larry got to cutting grass and I got to work on the produce he'd picked in the morning. More dill pickles are in process (and will be finished before the hour is out), a few quarts of tomatoes are in the freezer (not enough for a canner load, so I froze them to use later in soups), some basil is hanging to dry and the bushel of peaches is sorted so all the ones with bad places are in a bucket for the turkeys and chickens to enjoy. I also finally got the huge weeds out of my poor herb garden, feeling like I needed to apologize to the herb plants for such neglect. They seem to have forgiven me, and my reward for cleaning up the garden was the most delightful combination of scents--rosemary, savory, basil, Thai basil, thyme and others provided heady perfume as I worked.

We started this morning with a late, massive breakfast. We'd been up late the past two nights, just talking on the porch. There is nothing more comforting to me than time like that with my family, talking about nothing in particular but still a rich and satisfying conversation with lots of laughter. So we were slow moving this morning and were back on the porch drinking coffee when Derek and his family arrived at 10:30 am. Now you know that's late for us country types!

 I mixed up pancakes and Derek cooked them and the sausage while Katie cut up strawberries and I thawed and sweetened blueberries to go with whipped cream on the pancakes. I wasn't hungry again until evening! And even then not very hungry, so I decided on something simple.

I remembered something my sister Maggie made when she was here on July 4th weekend. It's so simple and so good.

A cracker (I used water crackers), some goat cheese, a slice of tomato, and a basil leaf: that's all there is to it. An absolutely delicious snack and made in less than a minute. These are great appetizers.

Then I made one of my favorite sandwiches--grilled provolone and tomato on whole grain bread.

A few cucumber slices and that was supper.

I hope your day was as satisfying as mine has been. Even though the heat returned after last night's storms, it was still a good day.

Two Firsts

Saturday the West Virginia Writers held a performance of their work at the Clay Center's Walker Theatre in Charleston. We had a great time, and a highlight of the afternoon was that we were joined by actor David Selby of Dark Shadows and Falcon Crest fame.

A writer himself with several published volumes of work, and a novel due out this Fall, Mr. Selby was in town to present a one-act play he'd written. I didn't realize that he is actually a native of our state, hailing from Morgantown.

And first tomatoes this year! Delicious with breakfast yesterday.

A good and busy weekend all around.

Red Sky at Morning

Yesterday's morning sky was one of those "I'm going to be late for work" skies, when I had to stop and pull out the camera. The sweep of color was breathtaking, turning trees, roads, and fields a deep shade of maroon in the half-light before sunrise.

Mornings like this make me glad I'm up and out so early. As the month progresses, slowly the sunlight comes earlier and earlier, sure sign of our progression toward Spring. By the end of January, we are all, I think, feeling like winter's grip will never loosen. But the sun's steady increase of minutes is our reminder that all is moving as it should; we may not be able to see it, but underground things are stirring in anticipation.

While this red sky correctly predicted the damp, rainy and in some places icy day ahead, for me it was a signal that we will be seeing green soon enough, and I'd better get out my seed catalogs and get serious about ordering my supply for this year.

Have you ordered your seeds yet? Any suggestions for varieties to try? On Facebook, we talked about the many kinds of tomatoes we like. Several people suggested purple heirloom varieties and I think I may give them a go this year, along with my many standard favorites like Mortgage Lifter, West Virginia striped, yellow pear, Amish Paste, and the 8-10 other kinds we always grow.

I need to know about peppers too? Any recommendations? For the past two years, Lilac peppers have been a huge favorite for me, and last year I tried a variety pack that yielded red, green yellow, orange and purple peppers. That was fun. I usually grow cayenne too, but what am I missing that's a must in your garden?

What's Going on in the Garden

Usually by this time the garden is covered in weeds; we've given up the battle and settle for harvesting what we can for the rest of the summer from the understory of the weedy forest.

But this year Larry has been home, and it's a whole new story.

What's happening now:

Swiss Chard: mammoth plants! Larry harvested it yesterday. We left it too long t00, one of the problems with me being gone so much on weekends. Still, I cleaned it up and we have 2 very big bags of frozen chard in the freezer. And the chickens and turkeys had good eating on the big red stalks of the rhubarb chard.

We ate the last of the corn last night. We started the season with Early Sunglow, moved on to Seneca Chief and finished with Honey and Cream. Of the three, Seneca Chief is a clear favorite--great flavor, full, big ears and so easy to clean. A winner all around. The Early Sunglow was frozen in the husk for grilling. We ate some of it last night along with fresh corn and it was hard to tell the difference. We cut Seneca Chief and some of the Honey and Cream off the cob for freezing that way. And ate a LOT of corn this summer. Bliss.

Carrots: success! Finally, after years of trying, we grew decent carrots. Downside--who knew there was some worm that likes to get into the roots? Still, we have harvested about 10 pounds and that's less than half of the crop. I will slice these up, cutting out the worm damage, for the freezer.

Sweet potatoes: they were doing great but last week the deer got in and ate the tops. These are in the only garden without an electric fence. We'll fix that real soon.

Tomatoes: Sad. Blight has taken over. We're still getting a few, but the big boom is over and I only canned about 20 quarts, and about 25 pints of salsa. Oh well. It's enough. But my tomato sandwiches for lunch may be over. So sad. Deer are getting to the ones that are left since they're in the same garden with the sweet potatoes.

Squash: the first planting is still bearing like crazy and the second planting is full of blooms. We should have squash well in to fall. The butternuts are full of ripening fruit, too, and those will go in the cellar if they don't rot. A lot of rain in the forecast again, so we'll see. They're not ready to harvest yet.

Cucumbers: first planting still doing well and second planting is full of bloom. More dill pickles are in my future, and I am a happy woman.

Lettuce: fifth planting is ready to pick. So far we've had Green Ice, Ruby, Buttercrunch, Romaine, now the Black-seeded Simpson is coming on.

Potatoes: Larry has been digging them and drying them out to store in the cellar. He rinsed the potato bin with bleach water first. No sense encouraging disease and bacteria.

Indian corn: looking good so far. We'll see.

Celery: Big and beautiful. Time to harvest it this weekend.

Leeks: Ditto, although I'll leave them in the ground as long as I can. They are de-li-ci-ous! A milder, sweeter taste than onions, I think. I will try drying some, freezing some and just storing some in the cellar when frost is near.

Herbs: a bust. I've gotten a little bit of stuff dried, but the bulk of them were dug up by the dogs. Grrrr. Good thing I love my dogs. Next, year, new garden and a fence.

Blackberries: I don't really have any in my gardens, but Derek picked four gallons for us at his friend's house, so we have plenty in the freezer for blackberry cobblers like this one I made last night. Yum! You can find my recipe at this blog post from past year.

Grapes: some have black rot despite spraying to control it. Bah. but some have made it through so I should be making jelly pretty soon.

Cabbages and broccoli: mixed results here. We had some early cabbage, and I made 4 pints of sauerkraut and froze a few bags, but the late cabbage? Larry accidentally hoed out the little plants. Broccoli didn't do a thing, and the second planting suffered the same fate as the late cabbage. Just wasn't meant to happen this year, I guess.

Honey: ready to harvest, just need to find some time.

I've probably missed a few things, but that's the gist of it. A very good garden year, and we are grateful. We've learned a few things too, and have more to learn about carrots. But all in all, I am more than happy with this year's produce.

We're putting in cover crops of turnips, kale, spinach and rape now. I will be planting more lettuce and radishes close to the porch where the plants will be protected from harsh weather, hoping to keep fresh salads on the table far into winter. We'll see how that plan goes.

What's going on in your garden?

Comfort Food

For some , it's beans and cornbread, or macaroni and cheese, cheesecake or steaks and potatoes.

But in the summer, there is no comfort like tomato comfort. Fresh tomato comfort. Vine-ripe, straight from the garden, juicy tomatoes is what I'm talkin' about. Yellow will do, the pink and yellow striped are fine.

But for tomato sandwiches, you just can't beat the big pink tomatoes. German pinks, pink Oxheart, Big Pinks---any of them will do. Some folks say they can't tell the difference, some say the pinks are not as tasty as the reds. It's an individual taste certainly. When fully ripe the pinks don't seem to be as acidic as other tomatoes, and they get really, really big. Many of the pink varieties are susceptible to blight, which adds to the challenge.

This year our German Pinks have been stupendous. They've produced well and long, and even though the blight has finally hit and the crop is dwindling, I have had my fix and I can hold out for another year...I think.

My lunch these days: tomato sandwich. Sliced ripe tomato of any variety on good bread with real butter, salt and pepper. Nothing more is needed. I could quite honestly eat tomato sandwiches year-round and be happy. Larry (yeah, my hubby packs my lunch, ain't I the lucky one!) usually gives me a baggie of cucumber slices and a yogurt, some fruit--I think I'm eating like a queen.

I'm off to bed now. The coyotes are howling up on the ridge, the moon is full, and the midnight hour is nigh.

But tomorrow? Tomorrow there will be more tomatoes to brighten my day. Ah, the gifts of summer!