I Heart Tomatoes

Tomatoes come in all shapes and sizes. This tomato was a surprise when I picked it yesterday.

Zapotec pleated tomatoes are deeply pleated and quite wonderful. My vines are covered with fairly large fruits. They’re quite dry inside, which is a plus for making sauce. I don’t particularly like them for eating plain, like I do other tomatoes so I happily throw them in the saucepot with many other heirlooms.

Any interestingly shaped veg in your garden?

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Joe Pye Weed

I particularly love Joe Pye weed. It’s such a lovely plant, so tall and commanding in the garden and along the edges of the roads. My mom has a particularly nice patch growing in her beneficial flowerbed. Our soil is a little too dry around here, but I think I’m going to try to start some from seed next spring and see if I can get some growing. I’ll have to amend the soil and keep it watered to keep it at it’s best. Perhaps a rain garden would be a great thing to add to the gardens here at Chiot’s Run.

I particularly want to add this plant to my garden because the bees and the butterflies love it. My mom’s is always buzzing with activity.

What’s your favorite weed, I mean wildflower?

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Rest? Not a Chance

We had a busy busy weekend around here. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you know that Mr Chiots and I own a business, it keeps us rather busy, but we don’t mind. This weekend we didn’t get to celebrate like most folks, we were working all weekend. On Sunday evening when we were driving home from a job I calculated that we only spent 7 hours at home and awake from Friday morning till very early Monday morning. We were up early and out late every night, this is what we were doing if you’d like to check it out.

We don’t mind being busy, but every now and then we get a little too busy for even for us. I’m looking forward to some time off soon!

What did you do this weekend, were you working, relaxing, spending time with family?

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Picking Pears

We picked pears at my mom’s house again last week. We didn’t get as many as we did last year (remember that?). There were a lot of pears on the ground, but we still had a good haul.

I gave some to my sister and we brought the rest home. Last year I canned pear halves, but that’s a lot of work. Since we still have some left, I’ll stick to easier preservation methods like: making pear sauce (like applesauce), pear butter and drying.

What’s your favorite way to preserve pears?

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Quote of the Day: Jessica Prentice

“What if I had simply grown up in a time when food was seasonal? When there was, in each year, a time of more and a time of less? When food was not just there in packages on the supermarket shelf all year?”
– Jessica Prentice

I’m glad I’m living in the time I’m living, I don’t mind being able to get things like onions whenever I need them or lemons all year long. I do however only eat certain things in season. My favorite in season thing right now – tomatoes; fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes of all shapes and sizes. I eat them fresh every chance I get, I have to get my fill of fresh tomatoes during these couple months since the supermarket varieties in the off-season are just a mere shadow of a real tomato.

What’s your favorite in season fruit or veg at the moment?

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