Tomato Retrospective

The tomatoes started ripening late this year, but once they stared coming in we were inundated!

Without a scale I can't start to estimate poundage, but it seems like every time we go out we can fill our biggest mixing bowls and cover the kitchen counter. We planted 16 plants this year in a bed that had just been occupied by our chicken tractor. The tomatoes loved it. We have dehydrated tomatoes, frozen sauce, frozen roasted tomatoes, canned chutney, frozen chutney, and lived almost exclusively off of tomatoes for two months now.

The big yellow one that you can see Jonathan holding above was the winner of this summer's garden. Our one plant made around 20 of those bigguns. We took a smallish one to the farmer's market to see if anyone knew what kind it was and to weigh it. No one knew, but we got good advice on seed saving so we can have it again next year, and the tomato weighed in at 1.5 pounds! At the pricey Berkeley Farmers Market that could have cost us $4.50! Times 20, times the enjoyment of watching it grow times the fun of the tomato search when we harvested! The real benefit of the Farmer's Market: making me feel smug.