The meteorologists keep saying that we are well below our annual rainfall total for this time of year but by my key indicators, you sure can’t tell it.
We are still enjoying lush, green foliage rather than the progression to the ‘brown crunch’ that we often see in August. Also, my mowing schedule continues on a regular pace. No slowdown because of dry weather. And as I usually find myself doing in the spring, I am fighting weeds in the flower beds and along the edge of the woods even as summer winds down.
Meanwhile, we continue to have a bumper crop of tomatoes in Farmer Jeff’s ‘mater patch. My dad has a bunch, too.
Funny thing about tomatoes: sometimes, you just don’t know. Despite all the rainfall we had last year, it really wasn’t a good year for our tomato crop. I tossed a bunch of them into the woods because they’d overgrow themselves and split down the middle.
Even though many were wasted, I still managed to have a little fun. There is something satisfying about the sound of a liquidy splat when a rotting tomato smashes into the side of a tree in the woods!
Fast forward to 2014. This is a good year for the round red orbs.
Over the weekend, we got a number of my parents’ ripe tomatoes (and threw in a few of our own) and then spent time preserving them for use this winter.
Lisa does some great chili and stews during the cold winter months. It is always a nice treat to be able to open up the freezer and use some of your own fruits and vegetables to prepare a nice winter meal.
This feeds the old gardening adage about supply and demand: “Eat all you can and what you can’t you can!” In this case, however, Lisa preferred to freeze the tomatoes rather than can them and that was fine by me.
Together, we worked efficiently to process the tomatoes. I scalded (and cooled) them and Lisa chopped them up. Then, I pureed them and put them into bags. The final step, of course, was to put the bags in the freezer. That’s a satisfying feeling.
All in all, we wound up with 11 quart bags (which we shared with my folks).
This is a window into where we are going long-term. Post-career, we look forward to doing some light farming - with an emphasis on a healthy garden - to provide summer vegetables and winter stock.
Corn. Beans. Okra. Potatoes.
Squash. Eggplant. Tomatoes.
Lots of tomatoes. Naturally.
JG
Originally posted 8/19/2014
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