Saturday, September 27, 2008

Tomato Patience

Well, it's the end of September and I've been having my Early Girl tomatoes coming ripe for a whole week now. I'm not terribly amused. There has been much prayer and threatening and wringing of hands in the garden. I have six quarts of tomatoes frozen. Six. I have twelve Beefmaster tomato plants, for Pete's sake. Twelve!

My other "early" tomato (Siletz) has been producing a few. Kinda...

Take this one. It looks nice, right?

But wait, when you turn it...
What is that? Ewww.
I'm guessing even blanching isn't going to make this one easy to peel.

Several of these have this condition, which, have you ever seen the Alien movies? I can only assume this is the horticultural version of that creature.


Poor tomato.

5 comments:

Meghann said...

That is funny and a bit gross...very sad tomato!

My question is how did you learn all these skills since your mother didn't teach them to you (those of gardening, sewing, canning, etc.)? Did you have a friend who taught you and did you teach yourself? I'm very impressed and am trying to get there myself, though mainly on my own. Wishing you lived close and could show me how to do some of these things! :)

EllaJac said...

Meghann, I must be brief, because there are a dozen roosters awaiting their demise.. And maybe a few turkeys. :)

I might have to think on that for a while. I've ALWAYS been enthralled by all things domestic. I'm not sure if I was wired that way, or if my parents early divorce (I was 2) caused me to be enamored with anything that looked like "a real family" -- and all that goes with. I would say I'm mostly 'self-taught' -- if you can call it that. I read a lot about such things. When I was young it was books on crafts and crochet and Reader's Digest sewing book. And a LOT of trial and error. My stepmother has done sewing and canning, off and on, and that was a help - to have the encouragement and atmosphere to pursue those things. Nowadays Google is a great resource. I (re)learned to knit last January after googling some information, many blogs have step-by-step of sewing projects, or canning. Gardening is a region-specific art, I think. Books can be very helpful as a starting point, but you have to just get in there and do it. I'll think on it more, and get back to you, when I have the chance. :)

It IS possible though. I'm in no ways expert at most of this, but my readiness to consume the information is a big benefit. Keep learning!

MamaJ said...

You know, some of these weird vegetables you keep showing us are rather scary. You're starting to make me wary of starting a garden at all.... Or even sleeping with my eyes closed anymore....

annie said...

Yikes. I agree with mamaj. That's the stuff of nightmares. I already have a weird view of nature, stuff like that just freaks me out. Nature is gross. :) Fortunately none of our tomatoes have grown such horrific...growths. Ugh. Creepycreepycreepy!

:)

Though, your peaches do look pretty. They aren't my favorite fruit (i only like them in their original, whole form - no peach yogurt, canned peaches, peach pie, peach ice cream, peach preserves for me!), I love love love fresh fruit anything! I'd probably be right with you consuming bushels of peaches. And then swear off eating another peach for a whole year. :)

Benny said...

Poor tomato is right. :o(

I hope you get some good ones sometime before the weather turns. But in the meantime, at least they are providing your family with entertainment value, if not nutritional value just yet.

Benny