Tomatoes

Cleaning The Tomatoes

As the Late Blight is sweeping through the area, we were left with two choices: Pick the tomatoes green, or watch them turn into brown mush. The choice was simple, pick them green, and hope for the best. Sandy, Davie, Kim, Maurice and Aggie began the process on Friday, picking an unimaginable amount. They filled large boxes in Aggie’s dining room, swelling the ranks of cucumbers, zucchini and other greens. When I saw the sheer number picked, I thought the work was done. That was until I surveyed the garden. Today was the second day of picking, and we gathered the amount shown above before giving up for the day. They were spread out so they could be hosed off, and wiped clean. I placed a bottle of dish soap in the center to show scale. The bottle is nearly lost in the rainbow of tomato tones.

Family Effort

Photo by Jennifer.

This years garden has been a huge family effort, and all of the people shown above (plus many more who had other commitments) have helped plant, weed and harvest this huge project. From Rob and Davie fixing the tractors as I broke them to the Little Gardener who planted the Watermelons, we all have a great deal invested. We’ve spent hours baking in the sun to plant row after row of corn, peppers, tomatoes and everything else. The best part is, when a young kid asks “Do they make white tomatoes ?”, and my reply being “yep, put this is a window, it will turn white”. I had planted “White Snowball” tomatoes, and was very delited to answer a question with a tomato.

I’m exhausted, as are all of the people above, sleep will come easy, and tomorrow, we’ll do it all over again……