Tomato Overload

As Promised.....

I planted A LOT of tomato plants.  Too many?  No way!!

Every few weeks I am faced with several crates of tomatoes ranging from cherry to large.  

A few customers have taken advantage of my very reasonable price of $10-$15 per crate to be able to preserve stewed, diced, sauced or juiced tomatoes for the winter.

Here's what I have been doing for the last 3 weeks...among other things:

CHERRY TOMATOES:

If you are an exact measurement cook, you are about to be frustrated.

Start by washing cherry tomatoes.  Sauté  some onions & garlic in olive oil.  Add tomatoes (my best guess is one medium onion, two cloves of garlic and 12 cups of cherry tomatoes).

Cook until the the tomatoes plump up and burst their skin.

Add Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, fresh basil and I usually stir in either a balsamic reduction or red wine.  Something to give it some depth.  Many times I'm out of both of those so I just serve as is:). I have also added hot peppers for a spicy spaghetti sauce for my main man:)

Run it all through a Vitamix, food processor or an immersion blender.  It will thicken up during that process. 

Want it thicker?  Stir in some tomato paste during the cooking process.

I use this sauce all winter for pasta, pizza sauce and to give vegetable soups a boost of flavor.  It's awesome and I have never had enough canned to last us through the winter.  This might be the year!!

LARGE TOMATOES:

I pick, wash, core, throw in a grocery bag and stick them in the freezer overnight...or for several days!!

Run hot water in a sink and toss in the frozen "pool ball" tomatoes.  As they thaw, the skin will easily pull off.

From there, toss the tomatoes in a pan to  make stewed tomatoes, salsa, etc.

Sure beats the old method of boiling/Ice water/peeling.  Been there, done that.  Trust me.  The above method is much preferred.  It may produce more water in the tomato pot, but cooking it a little longer solves that problem.

Anybody can do those two methods of preserving the garden into the winter.  If you don't want to can the results, put them in gallon freezer bags, freeze them flat and THEN stack them in the freezer (yes, I tried it one year by stacking them while unfrozen.....couldn't get them apart without thawing the whole block!!!) 

Bottoms line is:  Anybody can preserve tomato products.  You will be so pleased with yourself:). Tomato time is running out!!

You Can Take the Girl Off the Farm....

Once Abbey was all moved into her dorm room (which is MUCH nicer than my first apartment), she pulled up the shades to get some natural light and exclaimed, "Wow!  What a great place to grow something.  Can you bring me something from the farm?"

I assumed she was NOT talking about marajuana.

I needed clarification.

Me:  "Sure.  What plant? How big?  Is this just for you or are you planning to start a business to sell it one ounce at a time?"

Her:  "Why, do a lot of people like mint?  

Ah!  Mint.  Whew!!

Step one:

Joel dug up one of my plants from the farm.

Step two:

Abbey found a suitable planting vessel.

Step three:

Luke poked holes in the bottom of the "pot".

Step four:

Chunk left to find small rocks for the bottom of the pot.  He may or may not have "borrowed" them from neighborhood yards.

Step five:

Squeeze this big old plant in that very narrow planter, trim, water and send it on it's way.

Step six:

Name it.  Stuart....Stu, for short.

Abbey is happy.

I am relieved.

Her roommate is thrilled - loves mint!!!

Chunk is still tight-lipped about those rocks.  

Stuart looks happy in his new home.

 

Fiddlestix Farms at UNL...WooHoo!!!

Win, Win, Win

Because I displayed my fails of the week, I should also share my wins.

CeCe & I got to go on several horse rides last week.  EVERY time we come to the farm she asks, "Can we PLEASE ride a horse today?"  Sometimes the answer is no because I have so much to do in the short amount of time I'm there. Lately the answer has been favorable.  She gets to pick the horse, I get to pick the saddle.  We make a good pair.  

Win Round Two:

I got my replacement part for my strainer so I could juice tomatoes to cook down tomatoe sauce for soup, pizza sauce and maybe ketchup(??)

We can put A LOT of tomatoes through in a pretty short period of time.  I like this method because the kids can take part.    Any of you are welcome to come use it in my kitchen.  Bring your own containers to haul away the juice:)

Because I can't just plant red tomatoes, the juice is a very interesting color.  This batch looks kind of "burnt orange" when reduced to a sauce.

Obviously I do such large quantities, it works better for me to juice & store one day, and spend the next few days cooking pots of it all day to reduce it.  There's no way I could do all of it in one day. 

Win Round Three:

I've decided to try to save my seeds this year.  I have always wanted to try it but never got it done.  I haven't followed all the rules so I won't be shocked if it doesn't work.  Disappointed, but not shocked. 

After drying them in the pods for three weeks, we popped them out and will let them dry again for a few weeks before storing them for next year.  They will keep for 3-4 years, but I didn't collect enough for that.

So far the three kinds of pod peas, sugar snap peas, snow peas and arugula are the only seeds saved.  I plan to plant some of each for the fall to see if they work.

Win Round Four:

The third cutting of hey went off without a peoblem.  Nearly 400 bales were tied, loaded and stored for sale and for our animals.  Need hay?  Spread the word!!

Joel's favorite tractor.  This is what will ultimately pull our hay rack ride trailer.

I LOVE to see boys doing physics labor.  That's most of the reason we bought this place!!

The big boys haul bales and the next youngest one drives the truck.  This time Chunk (Eli) was the chosen one.  Not only does he drive, he does it well....with a popsicle!!  Pretty sure that's legal.

We don't expect or require winning a majority of the time.  Our theme on the farm is "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back".  

We take wins when we can get them:)