Fresh from the vine....

 

At last, at last!! Enough tomatoes for more than just a taste.  I have had two tomatoes for a snack two nights in a row and consider myself blessed.   I could about eat the entire bowl...I do love tomatoes that much.  When I think of tomatoes, I think of my nephew Glen and me coming in from our adventures and having two or three for a snack in the afternoon.

After vacuuming and finishing a bit of laundry...I went to the sewing room and have finished the backing for the crumb quilt.  I won't be attempting getting the layers together for a few days.  I so wish I could get in the floor on my knees but that is no longer possible.  

It was overcast this morning, then the sun shone most of the day, but now overcast again.  We need rain so I am complaining.  I am hoping to get out for a drive at some point.  I have been seeing sumac ablaze with color but always at times I cannot stop and/or not room to pull off the road.  I have in mind places that it grows along dirt roads.

For now, I will wish you all a good week ahead.  I am tickled that I got to start mine off with a bit of sewing.

Worth waiting for....

At last, at last....homegrown tomatoes!  First outside...I could not even see what was on the screen when I took the shots...this is cropped.  I took two or three shots and they all look basically the same.

I think they look redder against the white background.

I came right in, washed them off and cut them up.  Roger is letting his share get cold.  I have done eaten mine.  They were delicious.  I was so afraid with all the rain we had been having that they would not have much flavor.  One year, when I used to have about 20 plants, none had any flavor whatsoever.  They were pretty as a picture, but just tasted about like water.

And there is another big one getting ripe.  Maybe more than one.  I did not get down and check this one plant.  It is so very bushy that you cannot see what is growing on it.
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Eating a tomato fresh from the garden takes me back to childhood about as fast as anything.  I don't remember ever not liking tomatoes.  But my nephew, Glen, who was the same age as me spent two or three summers with us.

We would play in the creek every day, and I do mean every day.  I swear I don't think we averaged missing a day per week.  Up in the afternoon before supper we would come in hungry and tired.  We would grab a tomato or two and the salt shaker.  Sometimes we just went and sat on the edge of the porch and ate them like an apple...but I think I sometimes sat at the table and cut mine up.  I cannot remember if Glen did or not.

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I am getting ready to go in the sewing room...decide on something.  I think.

But I am reading High, Wide & Lonesome:  Growing up on the Colorado Frontier by Hal Borland.  I am almost done with it.  And I want to finish it but hate to see it end.  It is just their day to day life, written from his view when he was a kid.  And the hardships and joys.  It is well written...I got it when it was on sale for a couple dollars and consider it well spent.

I hope everyone stays save and has a good week ahead.

Early training....

This is my little nephew, Jackson, just a bit over 1 1/2 yrs old. He is reading Field & Stream...we believe in training our children early...he already loves going for rides on the 4-wheeler with his papaw. He will ride with him as long as his papaw will take him. It won't be long until he is fishing and hunting.

I have to tell this cause I thought it was so cute. First I will tell you a little history. Jackson loves Santa Claus. He got all excited over the holidays if he saw him on television...if someone was on television with a white beard, he thought they were Santa Claus. And he would go around all day hollering for Santa Claus. His mom and dad had him out one morn a while back, as they were leaving some place, this guy with a beard got out of his car and went in a restaurant...Jackson looked and said "Santa." Well, here just the other day, he was playing with his little phone, pretending to talk on it, then handed it to his Mamaw and so she ask him who it was, and he said "Santa."
***********This is my juice I made today...I will probably put that pint in the fridge and drink it since it needed just a bit more in it. I didn't notice that when I canned it, but I was sort of hoping to have a reason to sample it.

You might wonder how tomatoes ties in with early training...well, I helped my mom can and freeze stuff as long as I can remember. And she taught me to love putting up food for the family. I think she enjoyed canning and putting stuff in the freezer as much as she enjoyed anything. That is some of my fondest memories from home...

Also, one year my older daughter bought a bunch of sweet corn, and she called me to see if I wanted to help. I forget how many dozen ears she got, but we had a regular assembly line going to get it blanched, cut off the cob, and frozen. I know we stopped sometime during doing it to have big bowls of tomatoes cut up....I cannot remember if we had them salted or with Italian dressing.
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When we took Lo to the creek the other day, it was like going down memory lane for Roger and me. We started taking the girls to the creek when they were young. Not quite as young as Lorelei....but still they were not real old. We would fish while they played...and sometimes they might fish a little bit...but most of the time they looked for crawdads, snakes, or anything else that moved...

I watched Lorelei and I just know she is going to love it every bit as much as they did. I am so glad to have been a part of introducing it to her.

Fresh from the garden....

These are sitting in my kitchen...waiting for my attention. I am thinking some tomato juice will be made some time tomorrow. There is nothing better than home canned tomato juice.

They make me think of summer days and coming in with a load of stuff from the garden, and taking time to grab a tomato and a shaker of salt and sitting on the edge of the porch to eat till the juice would not drip all over the place. All winter long I have been waiting for them...we have been having them for a week or two now and I still am not tired of them. And I have not ventured beyond having them with salt or on a sandwich...but look plan to have some soaked in Italian dressing one of these days.

I also love to cut up other vegetables along with the tomateos and pour enough Italian dressing over it all and let it soak...my favorites are cucumbers, bell peppers, cauliflower, onions. I feel like I am forgetting something but can't think what....

The garden report....

I was hanging out a couple loads of clothes this morn and thought of doing a gardening post.
For those of you not familiar with it, that is okra above. I planted a few hills this year, but have not managed to capture a bloom yet. I will probably have to mix what I do get with green tomatoes to have enough to fry. That is okay....it is good that way, too. I can remember we were kids, mom would just throw everything together and fry it...green tomatoes, okra, hot pepper, and maybe even cucumber. She would just cut/chop it in small chunks, mix with mainly meal with a little flour mixed it, and fry till browned. Talk about yummy! That was just so good with soup beans, or anything else for that matter.
Remember last year we had an abundance of bell peppers...well, for some reason they are scarcer this year...I am not sure what the problem is. But we have plenty frozen from last year, so it is no big deal. We use them in chili, spaghetti sauce sometimes, and I make a bell pepper casserole that my kids just love.
And look here....we have regular tomatoes getting ripe...
And just look at the photo below....
I had enough of these little cherry tomatoes to get my fill...and so did Roger. Plus we saved a few for my next door little neighbor's little girl. She absolutely loves fresh garden stuff...she will pick a bell pepper off the plant and eat it as if it is an apple.

Just in time for the 4th of July

We were getting ready to go to Sarah's yesterday afternoon, and I happened to walk out to the garden. It is such a jungle that I have not been keeping close tabs on anything. But even in walking out there, I saw all these little cherry tomatoes just waiting for me to come get them. They were emmm-mmmm good!
I just had to show these of Lorelei and her daddy....they spent the night in Indianapolis Thursday night, and we stayed with Lorelei at their house. She was perfectly fine with us...had not been upset at all when it was just us there...
but I happened to see them when they got back and held the curtain back for Lorelei to see them walking in. Oh, the excitement! Mama....mama....DA-DA! Oh, was that girl every happy to see them.

Then our other daughter came home this weekend...and she spent a lot of time there. Yesterday eve when R. was leaving, Lorelei almost started crying...she loves her auntie.

Roger also makes this cheesecake pie...it is real simple. An 8 oz thing of creme cheese softened, a big bowl of cool whip, a big spoonful of sour cream, a tablespoon or so of real lemon flavoring, and some splenda...whip together and have a graham crust ready. Lorelei really loved that! Any of us that she seen eating it, she had to share.
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Some of you may have noticed that I turned off word verification...I also had turned off the moderation. Well, I have only had that all turned off a week or two, and already got spam. So, I am going back to moderating the comments, though I did not turn on the word verification. Just wanted you to know that your comment won't publish until I have had a chance to view it.

Coming soon to a garden near you + Lorelei

I was out in the garden the other day, and happened to notice we have little green tomatoes! I cannot wait to have fresh tomatoes. My mouth waters just thinking about picking one and sitting outside with a salt shaker to eat it. I am wondering what Lorelei will think of them...her mom eats catchup but doesn't like tomatoes. And I don't think her dad likes them either, though he loves catchup.

My husband loves catchup, loves tomatoes, likes things cooked with tomatoes such as spaghetti, or anything generally that requires tomato sauce or juice. But he will not drink tomato juice. I will actually buy the small pop can sizes of tomato juice to have one when I am desperate...but they don't hold a candle to home canned tomato juice. If I had it here right now, I could easily drink a quart of it.

Okay, here is Lorelei and her dancing feet again...not sure if you can see it or not. It is a bit dark on my computer, but it was taken late this afternoon with her mom's cell phone and there is not much I can do about that.

Garden views

The other morn when I had my camera out I took these photos....I like the simplicity of them.
I planted some birdhouse gourds along the fence....I can't even remember if I have ever planted these gourds before. I was hoping they would grow up the fence....
and they are, but they are also growing up my tomatoes and the tomato stakes. I almost feel I am in a jungle when I am out there.
But I am still glad I planted them. I just hope I have some gourds that reach a good size.

And they don't seem to slow the tomatoes down....I made 4 quarts and a pint of salsa night before last, and need to make more. I like making salsa because I cannot find any to buy that tastes good consistently. Year before last I made 26 quarts of it, which lasted Sarah and Jeremy and us till this year. Though Sarah may have been out a little while.

Our other daughter, Rachel, likes thick and chunky salsa, so she had rather buy her own because my salsa has lots of juice, which is the way I like it.

From the back yard garden spot

I decided to see what was out in the garden this afternoon...and thought I would show you what I brought in...
or most of it. I did gather a few more full-sized tomatoes but did not try to fit them in the picture.
I could not believe all the cherry tomatoes...they are big cherry but little when compared to a regular tomato.
I have never used them to make salsa, but they seem to have lots of flavor. And I actually used enough of the Super Fantastic tomatoes to make more than half the salsa. So, it should have lots of flavor. My salsa has a lot of juice, which is what I like. I just hope I get to can several more jars.

As for the bell peppers, we cleaned them and I cut them into strips. I put a handful in a sandwich baggie and close the flap. Then I place all the pepper filled sandwich baggies into a large gallon sized Ziploc baggie and freeze for later use. I use them in chili and sometimes spaghetti sauce. And instead of making stuffed peppers, I make a bell pepper casserole. I also will use them in stir-fry if I don't have a fresh one available.

I sure enjoy eating tomatoes straight from the garden...right now I am eating them with salt. Later I will start using Italian salad dressing part of the time. And have you ever taken your favorite veggies-- in my case it is tomatoes, cucumbers, cauliflower, onions, bell peppers--anyway, cut them in bite sized pieces. Use a big bowl that has a lid, and cover with Italian dressing....let soak over night preferably. They are so yummy and refreshing on a hot summer day.