Comments on: Ugly? I Don’t Think So.

By: Laquanda Desroberts

Laquanda Desroberts — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:42:21 +0000

Come on dude, ces faits et la preuve * * Je veux dire qui est à pourvoir * lol: P

By: Eleanor at OutOfDoors

Eleanor at OutOfDoors — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:10:41 +0000

I know, my dad won’t buy heirlooms cause he says they are just too strange looking. My own flesh and blood! It’s can’t-believable.

Reading about the open-faced sandwich reminded me of a restaurant I visited in Rome where all they serve is bruschetta, tons of different toppings on big slices of peasant bread. Oh, and it comes out on cutting boards. Gorgeous! I want to do party just like that…now all I need is a grape arbor and some of those fairy lights that twinkle like real stars…

By: Jesse

Jesse — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:34:44 +0000

Unfortunately tomatoes in my part of the country have been ancient history. Our crop dried up back in August. Extending the tomato season is my primary reason for wanting to head north. Your tomatoes are gorgeous… I hope they tasted just as good!

By: Graeme

Graeme — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:02:01 +0000

They’re so cool. They’re almost a bit gothic-looking. If Tim Burton imagined Tomatoes…

By: kelly

kelly — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:19:10 +0000

Thanks so much, Robin for the detailed response. I’m heading to the FM this weekend with my best negotiating skills!

By: robin

robin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:07:24 +0000

Oh…and in case it helps…I put the chopped tomatoes in ziplocks to prefreeze. When frozen, I remove and put them into a food saver bag, which will keep them longer. I recycle the ziplocks for other pre-freeze projects, and eventually they become home to a soup or sauce for the season. Food Saver doesn’t do well with really wet stuff, so prefreezing is great. Ziplocks seem fine for saucy stuff. I find freezer “boxes” like tupperware dealies don’t do well and freezer burn sets in pretty quick.

By: robin

robin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:05:19 +0000

Kelly, I’m on my last 20 lbs of 100 lbs I’ve bought over the last couple of weeks from the farmer’s market. I’ve dried a bunch. I core and chop others in batches and freeze. You can blanch to remove skins if you wish or just let them float up to skim off when you defrost into soups and stews. I’ve made multiple soup recipes and frozen them in meal-size batches. And I’ve made simple tomato sauce to also freeze in batches. It seems like a lot of work sometimes (see http://www.gardenhelp.org/gardening/localvore-tendencies-feeling-suicidal-in-the-fall/). Still, I know from a childhood of pulling bags of frozen tomatoes from the freezer that it really pays off mid-winter!

Sorry to hear your crop fizzled. I encourage you to visit your farmer’s market though. Right now many farmers are selling #2 grade tomatoes from their gluts. You can usually get 20-25# boxes of great tomatoes for around $20 right now, if you shop hard enough. Look for vendors selling only (or almost only) tomatoes. They’re probably willing to wheel and deal.

By: kelly

kelly — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 03:43:50 +0000

I’m like a Pavlov dog when I see pictures of these tomatoes. We were just away for a few weeks and were hoping to come back to some September tomatoes (we have a drip set up in the garden), but our housesitters must have turned it off. We’re so unbelievably crushed! If we buy a glut from the farmers market, what’s the best way to freeze them?

By: robin

robin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:20:59 +0000

Thanks Willi. I just put in an order for a pound of each variety Dan offers. I figure I’ll eat…or share…whatever I don’t manage to get into the ground.

By: Willi

Willi — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:33:29 +0000

In the PNW we can grow both hardneck garlic (they get the pretty flower heads called scapes) and soft neck (which have bigger yields). Here’s a good basic guide to garlic: http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-5-16-230,00.html