This year, we are more grateful than ever for the beauty and bounty of late August, since the first few weeks of August have seriously rocked us.
Visiting my sister who is slowly recovering from a stroke was immediately followed by storms, tornado warnings [4 tornado touchdowns in our general area], a 3+ day power outage, and flooded basement. In the midst of all this, Tim became ill with a sinus infection, while I developed the mother of all colds plus a burst blood vessel in my left eye. At least we're now moving beyond snaked storm sewers, insurance claims, and much of the backbreaking cleanup. And we realize we're relatively fortunate. Still, exhaustion is the word of the day.
So what a joyful distraction to turn our attention to the beginning of our tomato harvest.
We have 2 raised beds dedicated to tomatoes - one Roma and the other heirloom type slicing tomatoes. Each has 7 or 8 plants.
They started as seeds in February. We sow them in the basement, on heat mats, and under a motley collection of random lights.
They had an unusually slow start this year and we were concerned for a while, even after we set out the seedlings in early Spring. The thought of buying tomato plants (Oh no... not that!) even entered our minds for a minute.
Gradually, they grew into large, healthy plants, with more tomatoes than we had anticipated - thanks in part to our constant soil amendment. Not to mention watering daily for much of this unusually hot, dry summer.
The first batch of tomatoes and green peppers were roasted, along with garlic, red onions, fresh herbs from our container herb garden, EVOO, and a drizzle of balsamic.
Meanwhile, Tim is focused on nurturing and protecting his grapes - hoping this year to ward off the garden critters that often get to them first.
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