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At Mathews, Dane will have:
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Heirloom Tomatoes
Kobocha Squash (one of these days I will spell this right.)
Butternut squash
Green beans (few)
Okra (few)
ROMAS - We picked over 800 lb of ROMAS - most of which is going to a well-planned Italian family making traditional sauce - but we have lb left over.
White Yams
At Charlotte - KARYN AND CASS will be running the stand as I am teaching science today.
They will have:
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Chocolate cherry tomatoes
Kobocha squash (few) (this is the end of that crop)
ROMAS!!!
White Yams!
4 bags of dried tomatoes - small bags - yes, I am getting started on that again.
At Davidson, Marcel will have:
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Sungold cherry tomatoes
White yams
Renn Bee Farm Local Honey!
It started to downpour Wednesday morning and I sent Cass home and took Gregori to the barn to start the big clean as per Dean Mullis's good recommendation in his newsletter. Rain poured down. I sorted through tomatoes and tossed the rotten ones into the woods and the smaller ones into a bin to freeze for falls sauce-making trip. The good ones got neatly stacked back into boxes for market. I got about a quarter of the way through all the boxes when I noticed 2.5 year old Gregori was up to his thighs in a big puddle, laughing at the rain, pushing plastic bins into the middle for "boats", and pushing his toy trucks through the underwater revving "Vroom! Vroom!" For a kid who has grown up so far in drought conditions, he sure knows how to enjoy himself when it rains!
When he got done, I wrapped him up in old t-shirts and let him sleep in an old easy chair while I continued cleaning. Rain still poured down. About 3pm, he woke up and I figured I should feed him and myself , so we gave up on the day as far as field work was concerned and went home to watch Thomas the Train. Dane went out to the field and said it was too wet to work in anyway. Fine. One day lost. OK.
Thursday morning I called Cass and Marcel and told them to wait until afternoon to work. In the meantime, I collected up all the tomatoes I had been freezing and took them down to Howells Motor Freight in Charlotte. They have a big freezer and I keep the extras there until I go to Asheville to make sauce. I like the owner there, Chad. We chatted about how many pallets I would use and how long they might be there and about how Sungold cherry tomatoes are addictive. He told me that his facility is storing tons and tons of Halloween candy getting ready for our collective sugar high! Wow!!! How fun is that??? Halloween was already getting started! I guess I should have known, we start pumpkins way ahead of October - but I never put that much thought into it. As usual, I rode away from Howells Motor Freight inspired by commerce and wondered how many more tomatoes I could freeze before November and still get the field work done. With this rain, the numbers are smaller than the usual burgeoning amount.
Thursday afternoon/evening, Dane, Marcel, Cass and I picked until it was dark out and starting to sprinkle again. Marcel and Dane left before the sun went down and Cass and I sat out there and loaded my truck up with the 800 lb of Romas and the other Beefsteaks. Cass went home ahead of me and I mentally made plans to take a good hot shower when I got home as I drove out of the field up towards the barn. Then, a serious error. I slowed down going up a hill and started to slide backwards. I threw in into reverse and tried to find some friction to make the hill - but it was too late - down the hill I slid getting deeper and deeper into the mud. The second time in two weeks. A ton of tomatoes on my truck bed, there was no way I was going to get out of this one. I called Dane - but his phone was out of juice. I should have called Cass, or my father in law - but I decided to hoof it home and just have a longer day.
An hour later and a third of the way home, Dane called me and had a fit. He came to pick me up and we drove over to his parent's house to pick up another truck for me to drive. We were vociferous and his parents guessed what happened without much effort. Friday morning my father-in-law came out with his four wheel drive and pulled my truck out of the mud. Cass and Marcel laughed and laughed as my truck got covered bumper to bumper in thick mud from his spin off.
Shout out - I am waiting for Marcel to go eat at Ratcliff on the Green so I can write about Chef Mark Hibbs. In the meantime - just know that it is Marks birthday today and we are lucky he was born!
Tailgate - There is the Top-Chef Tour there today. We tried to work it so we could have a stand there and be part of the fun - but with the rain and mud adventures and me teaching today instead of running the stand - we decided to read about it in the papers. I regret that. I think it will be really really cool. You should go.
Maria Fisher
maria@acatysmoof.com
704-239-1719
FAX 866-302-4023
"When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?" - Eleanor Roosevelt
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Heirloom Tomatoes
Kobocha Squash (one of these days I will spell this right.)
Butternut squash
Green beans (few)
Okra (few)
ROMAS - We picked over 800 lb of ROMAS - most of which is going to a well-planned Italian family making traditional sauce - but we have lb left over.
White Yams
At Charlotte - KARYN AND CASS will be running the stand as I am teaching science today.
They will have:
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Chocolate cherry tomatoes
Kobocha squash (few) (this is the end of that crop)
ROMAS!!!
White Yams!
4 bags of dried tomatoes - small bags - yes, I am getting started on that again.
At Davidson, Marcel will have:
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Sungold cherry tomatoes
White yams
Renn Bee Farm Local Honey!
It started to downpour Wednesday morning and I sent Cass home and took Gregori to the barn to start the big clean as per Dean Mullis's good recommendation in his newsletter. Rain poured down. I sorted through tomatoes and tossed the rotten ones into the woods and the smaller ones into a bin to freeze for falls sauce-making trip. The good ones got neatly stacked back into boxes for market. I got about a quarter of the way through all the boxes when I noticed 2.5 year old Gregori was up to his thighs in a big puddle, laughing at the rain, pushing plastic bins into the middle for "boats", and pushing his toy trucks through the underwater revving "Vroom! Vroom!" For a kid who has grown up so far in drought conditions, he sure knows how to enjoy himself when it rains!
When he got done, I wrapped him up in old t-shirts and let him sleep in an old easy chair while I continued cleaning. Rain still poured down. About 3pm, he woke up and I figured I should feed him and myself , so we gave up on the day as far as field work was concerned and went home to watch Thomas the Train. Dane went out to the field and said it was too wet to work in anyway. Fine. One day lost. OK.
Thursday morning I called Cass and Marcel and told them to wait until afternoon to work. In the meantime, I collected up all the tomatoes I had been freezing and took them down to Howells Motor Freight in Charlotte. They have a big freezer and I keep the extras there until I go to Asheville to make sauce. I like the owner there, Chad. We chatted about how many pallets I would use and how long they might be there and about how Sungold cherry tomatoes are addictive. He told me that his facility is storing tons and tons of Halloween candy getting ready for our collective sugar high! Wow!!! How fun is that??? Halloween was already getting started! I guess I should have known, we start pumpkins way ahead of October - but I never put that much thought into it. As usual, I rode away from Howells Motor Freight inspired by commerce and wondered how many more tomatoes I could freeze before November and still get the field work done. With this rain, the numbers are smaller than the usual burgeoning amount.
Thursday afternoon/evening, Dane, Marcel, Cass and I picked until it was dark out and starting to sprinkle again. Marcel and Dane left before the sun went down and Cass and I sat out there and loaded my truck up with the 800 lb of Romas and the other Beefsteaks. Cass went home ahead of me and I mentally made plans to take a good hot shower when I got home as I drove out of the field up towards the barn. Then, a serious error. I slowed down going up a hill and started to slide backwards. I threw in into reverse and tried to find some friction to make the hill - but it was too late - down the hill I slid getting deeper and deeper into the mud. The second time in two weeks. A ton of tomatoes on my truck bed, there was no way I was going to get out of this one. I called Dane - but his phone was out of juice. I should have called Cass, or my father in law - but I decided to hoof it home and just have a longer day.
An hour later and a third of the way home, Dane called me and had a fit. He came to pick me up and we drove over to his parent's house to pick up another truck for me to drive. We were vociferous and his parents guessed what happened without much effort. Friday morning my father-in-law came out with his four wheel drive and pulled my truck out of the mud. Cass and Marcel laughed and laughed as my truck got covered bumper to bumper in thick mud from his spin off.
Shout out - I am waiting for Marcel to go eat at Ratcliff on the Green so I can write about Chef Mark Hibbs. In the meantime - just know that it is Marks birthday today and we are lucky he was born!
Tailgate - There is the Top-Chef Tour there today. We tried to work it so we could have a stand there and be part of the fun - but with the rain and mud adventures and me teaching today instead of running the stand - we decided to read about it in the papers. I regret that. I think it will be really really cool. You should go.
Maria Fisher
maria@acatysmoof.com
704-239-1719
FAX 866-302-4023
"When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?" - Eleanor Roosevelt
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