Firsts on the first!

A couple firsts on the first for you!

Thing One was dropped off late morning for his third, week long summer camp.  The first for me is that I didn't feel nervous leaving him.  He's comfortable going, it's his third trip with a couple of the guys who've been together since Tigers as Cub Scouts and 2nd year with his Boy Scout troop.  He really enjoys scouting and I am thankful that it is a good experience for him.  That it is a safe troop to learn how "to be a man" in, to learn to be a man of God in.

Second first for the day ~  I have a cherry tomato finally starting to turn orange.  It is still a yellow/orange color (heavy on the yellow), but it's changing and not green anymore.  This one will probably be plucked off the vine and eaten warm!!  Yummy!  And if I ever find my camera cord, I'll upload a photo of it!
 

ETA a photo of tomatoes!  They are pretty good.

Summer Garden, first installment!

Gearing up, for hopefully another good season of tomatoes.  Last year's was awesome, we were eating homemade tomato sauce until March!

This year we have two Early Girl, one cherry tomato, and I bought a basil plant already started!  We have blossoms too!

One of the Early Girl's have blossoms

Cherry Tomato plant blossoms!

Basil planets are looking good!

Beautiful Things

"Beautiful Things" by Gungor was running through my head this mornings as I began to make tomato sauce.  I had all these beautiful tomatoes just waiting to be consumed, some how, in some way.  What became of this fuzzy logic is the following:

Began by grabbing a good pot to heat up some olive oil in.
Set the burner to about medium heat and moved on to the next thing.

 

Started with about a half inch slice of onion and

couple large cloves of garlic.

Also grabbed some of my Rosemary (that had been

drying from one of my 3 bushes) and began to chop away.  Love my
Pampered Chef chopper ~ got through all of that quickly.
These went into the pot, with heated oil.  I then began dicing up the tomatoes.
Some were chunks with a knife, some got diced with the chopper.

Everything in the pot.  Just an occasional stir and let the heat & time

do it's thing.  After awhile, I'll puree a portion of this to get the

seeds and skin blended well.  Let it cool further and then into some

sort of freezer worthy storage container.  I've deliberately not added basil

or oregano yet.  These tend to be more tender herbs and should be added

in the last few minutes of cooking.  They'll get added later, when I am making

a sauce, soup, or stew later.

The one tomato not chopped or diced.  It was probably

the most sandwich worthy one out of the bunch and we're

having sandwiches for dinner.  Yummy!

What has probably helped the tomatoes the most, is that I

compost just about anything that can be composted.  As I tell our

boys, "if it came from the ground, it can be composted", meaning

fruit, veggies, untreated wood shavings, paper w/o to much writing

on it.  Other things, like dairy and bread type products, just don't

decompose easily and tend not to be good for the soil.  I know some

will compost with certain animal waste, but that just seems yucky to me!

I've also heard you can compost newspaper (but not the shiny adds) and

cardboard as well.  Haven't tried those yet.

So, later on today, more tomato will be bagged and frozen for later use in spaghetti or pizza sauce.  May even use some to make home made tomato soup.  Another yummy food!

Tomatos

This was not the best year for tomatoes for me. To many years of growing them in the same spot will do that. I've had a few that were great for sandwiches or salads, most though, have only been good for cooking down to a tomato sauce.

I was feeling, well, possibly a little proud of myself in this process today. There's been a pot on the stove, for a couple hours, with the last few tomatoes of the season cooking. I've been mashing and straining as the time goes on, all along thinking how good I was for not splashing anything on myself, as I was wearing a nice t-shirt and khaki capris. Did you pick up on the was? Yup, decided it was time to blend some of the pulp that hadn't cooked down. Totally forgot that hot liquids tend to explode while being blended. I managed to get myself, my hubby, and everything on the counter top within two feet. Needless to say, I've cleaned up, changed clothes, started a load of laundry and am waiting until the tomatoes have cooled before blending.

So, I end this post a little more humbled!!!

A chain is

only as strong as it's weakest link; so someone once said (and I don't remember who, so I can't give proper credit).  Based off of that statement, I realized this afternoon, that a fence is only as good as it's closed gates.  "Huh?" you say.  I went to pick some tomatoes and realized, well to late, that I had left one of the gates open after mowing yesterday.  You see, we back up to woods that have deer living in them.  To them, my plants, with varying degrees of orange tomatoes, was a salad bar (and at the right height too).  So, I've lost a lot of tomatoes, but hopefully more will grow.

Tomatos

Finally!!  This is my second, large tomato to be ripe.  The first fell prey to birds or squirrels.  The four cherry tomatoes are actually the first to make it inside.  I usually eat them on the way in, right off the vine, warm, and with whatever dirt they might attract while on the vine.  Really looking forward to a sandwich for lunch right now.  HMMMMMM!!!!

Here's a close up, should be good for 2 or 3 thick slices.  :