07-20-12 Tomatoes, the taste of summer!

The Farmer's Market is full of them, in all size, shapes and looks: this summer's tomatoes are now in full production.

The picture shows some of my red, yellow and orange varieties but I also have some pink and "black" a purplish color and several different "cherry" sizes.

While colors may be attractive to some, I go strictly by taste to decide what I like: a tomatoey taste with a tad of sweetness and, while size is important to some, my favorites are medium size for salads and sandwiches and cherry size for eating directly in the garden still full of the sun's warmth.

One of my favorites: Thessaloniky, a Greek tomato that does pretty well around here. Don't tell sheriff Arpaio but I never checked its papers and have no idea if it came here legally or not. It's way too good for prison and I sure don't want it deported.

My favorite to eat in the garden: Cherry Roma, a cherry size paste tomato with just the right amount of flesh and juice.

One of my trials, Blush has an even better taste but it is wrapped in a skin as tough as an old shoe, the production has been pitiful and the plant is already on its way out.  Too bad!

Who ever produced this tomato has a great sense for color but no marketing skill, calling it Tonnelet (little barrel, little drum) and the poor thing has no taste what so ever. It's all in the eyes!

One of the down sides of this summer having been so dry is that birds peck at my toms as soon as they change color. They don't eat the whole thing, mind you, they get some of the juice and move on leaving a gash for perfect invasions by bugs of all sorts. So I have to pick them as soon as they change color, bring them in and let them ripen on the kitchen counter. It works well until the lady of the house needs more counter space.

 What I do not eat, give to family, friends or neighbors, get sliced and goes to the drier. Home dried tomatoes, with a touch of pepper have a great flavor that makes for perfect addition on a pizza if we do not eat them straight out of the drier. I hope to keep enough to remember the taste of summer this winter.

On their way to the drier...

07-09-12 Bambi crashes the Garden of Eden or the clash of myths!

The clash between suburbia and wildlife is neither new nor easily solvable. In fact it is about as intractable as the Middle-East situation.

Not to seem too dramatic or anything but, while I respect wildlife, insects, birds and other critters, I expect them to constrain their eating to no more than 10% of my veggie production, a kind of natural tithe, and, last night, the 10% was consumed in one sitting, after crashing, effortlessly, my foot tall rabbit fence.

The bigger challenge is that Bambi has now located and penetrated the freshest local buffet and will be back for more, with or w/o a clean plate :)

On the other hand, I love this picture taken by a pro at the Eno River State park:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/07/05/2181183/hiking-the-eno-070512.html

To use a totally out of place quote:"Can't we just all get along?"

07-08-12 The Ever Elusive Butterflies!

Either I am getting too slow or these butterflies move to fast and too often for me to get good pictures. the fact that the butterfly bush is several feet taller than me does not really help either.

Their numbers still has not gone up since last post: I am lucky to see three/four large butterflies at once and, for many hours a day, I do not have a single one present besides the little white ones.

What to eat right now: some great cukes, also only one cultivar has done really well: the Adam F1, fortunately, it is also the tastiest one. You can smell its fragrance all over the house when you slice it.  
Banana peppers are starting to produce and
tomatoes of all kinds, shapes, colors and taste have started filling up the kitchen and moving into all kinds of dishes. I dried some last week, with a sprinkling of pepper. They were out of this world; never mind that I overcooked the pizza I had put them on.

Of the twenty eight tomato varieties I am testing this year, these Cherry Roma are my favorite. They never make it to the kitchen as I pop them in my mouth right there in the garden: 

 

the taste of summer!

Early morning calisthenics at the hive, and that's before coffee!