The $64 Tomato...

Will always joked that, by the time you actually pick a tomato, it probably costs about $60, what with seed and labor and whatnot. Not that you'd actually NOT plant tomatoes just because of that trifle of a statistic. But it's fairly accurate. Wouldn't you know, I was in the bookstore looking for Barbara Kingsolver's new book 'Animal, Vegetable, Miracle' (buy it, read it) and stumbled upon a book called 'The $64 Tomato' which speaks of this very thing. It's a light-hearted kind of 'B' book, and a quick read. The only problem is, the guy who talks about his gardening in writing this book doesn't really do much of the gardening. But he sure hires a lot of people to do a lot of stuff. Yes, he breaks a sweat, but I am here to tell you that if anybody really understands the concept of the $64 tomato, it's Will. And here it is...the object of this book. The Brandywine Tomato.



On to other happenings this week in the Land of Plenty. We robbed the hives and spun out the honey (my goodness but that's a lot of work). We have around 7 gallons of honey , or about 30 pints...and guess what there's more out there. But we'll have to recover from this episode first. I have a friend who also just finished the Kingsolver book, and now has decided that her son (age 4) needs to know as much as possible about growing food etc., which would include the honey experience. So she wants to be here in a week or so when we do the next round. bravo. Now that we've done this twice, we're feeling like old hands, although I'm sure there will be surprises in the future. And, by the way, if anybody out there knows to to separate the hood from the body of a bee suit, let me know. It is a zipper puzzle, not solved yet, although I've shown it to several women who sew, and would normally know how to figure this out. The thing can really get rank, and one go-round of washing it in the bathtub is enough for me.
Once the beans had come and gone, and the garden turned into a jungle, I really felt that the garden was winding down for the summer. But no! Even though you have to wade through the weeds and swat at all sorts of things, there plenty of late summer stuff out there. Evidenced by Will's haul of yesterday. I should be glad, because I do want to have more than just watermelons. They are late, but when they come in, it will be crazy. For the weekend:
And this is why my postings have been few and far between lately....but, as they say, it's all good.