Tomatoes on the Sill
It has been a good tomato season for us. I rarely bought any
this summer. There is nothing better than picking something from your own
garden, warm and juicy, and serving it right then. Yum.
But the season has changed and it was time to clean out the
greenhouse. Our plants were just about done, though there were several green
tomatoes that I couldn’t bear to let go. So I picked the remaining ones and put
them on our windowsill, hoping that they would ripen. They wouldn’t be fresh-picked
when we ate them but they wouldn’t have traveled for days (weeks?) to get to
the market so they should still have a newness about the taste.
This weekend on my regular afternoon walk, I saw that
someone else had culled a tomato garden. The wilted vines were laying at the
curb – with tomatoes still on them! Some were even red. Why weren’t they picked
before the plants were uprooted? Did they have bugs or fungus that prevented a
late harvest? It was all I could do to not dive in and rescue the poor produce.
It seemed like a gift rejected. When I returned home, I looked at the tomatoes
on my sill. One already started to show a blush on its mostly green skin. I was
glad I had saved it and the others.
I wouldn’t make a good farmer. I would not be happy if I had
to destroy any crops because of blight or government mandate or lack of a
living wage due to overabundance. I am grateful for the local, organic,
non-GMO, pesticide-free produce offered in my area. I look forward to visiting
the farmers’ markets that pop up in Spring, to buying and supporting
sustainable agriculture. The little I grow on my own connects me with the earth
and I am grateful for the taste it provides.
There are so many little things that add to the joy in life.
Why not tomatoes?
Some easy, practical tips to growing tomatoes:
More involved info:
Here's a trick for ripening those green tomatoes - put them into a brown bag. Works like a charm. Of course, the best is when you bring them in from outside and they are still warm! The brown bag, however, is a reasonable subsitute and better than throwing out green tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteSort of like unripe pears. I'll try it! Thanks, Claire.
ReplyDelete