Tomatoes on High

The "frost was on the pumpkin" this morning, along with freezing fog, and oh boy, we felt the chill.  The Mister and I headed out to our favorite French bakery early, driving under the stars and the light of the moon--and it was 7 am!  The roosters weren't even crowing.  And that's saying something.  Fortunately, Grace brought in the rest of the late harvest from our little backyard garden yesterday--just in the nick of time.  These little ledges on my windowsil are perfect for all the different sizes of tomatoes that we HOPE will ripen up.  If not, well, I guess I'll be revisiting the green tomato pie recipe afterall. 

 

I am delighted to report though, that over the past couple of weeks, the majority of our tomatoes finally did ripen on their own.  Aren't these purdy little jewels?  (There are more cucumbers on the bottom of the basket too.)  And, if you've never grown celery, you most certainly should, it's an easy crop and isn't too finicky about the weather.  But also, because it adds so much flavor to soups and stews--nice to have it at-hand when you need a fresh stalk or two, and just so unbelievably good, nothing compared to commercial types.  Nothing.  I always thought I didn't like celery until I began growing my own.  Who knew?  Well, now we know!

Looking out my kitchen window, beyond the green tomatoes, is this wonderful Sunset Maple that is capturing our attention with its gorgeous colors.  Each day, it seems to morph a little more. 

Unrelated:: I want to give a friendly shout-out to the folks at Feeling Stitchy, and Carina (from Carina's Craft Blog), in particular, for featuring my State Flower Quilt!   Thank You!! xo

 

Comments

[Linda Tackett]

My parents always picked all of the green tomatoes before the frost and put them in a dark storeroom and they had fresh tomatoes for weeks. I am sure yours will ripen just fine.

[Wendy]

Congrats on the feature! And thanks for sharing the pix of the maple--we haven't seen many colors like that around here yet!

[Vee]

Congrats on being featured! The work on your state flower quilt is certainly worthy!

[Denise :)]

Love the pic of your beautiful tree! Autumn color is splendiferous! :)

[vicki haninger]

Thats great advice! Thanks Linda!

[suesue]

Good luck with the tomatoes. I've picked some green ones already and boxed them layered between newspaper and eventually they ripened and were pretty tasty! Your quilt is awesome~congratulations on the features!!

[Bobbi M]

The tree is absolutely beautiful! It's like tree candy, it's just so yummy to look at! :)

[Teresa Kasner]

Looooove your photo of the tomatoes! I need a garden badly next year. You're lucky to have a color tree.. we had a sweet gum, but it blew over.. our sugar maple died off and we had to take it down.. now we had to take our big leaf maple down. I guess we need to plant a sweet gum where it will thrive.
((hugs)), Teresa :-)

[vicki haninger]

Oh, what aGREAT tip--thanksfor sharing it here!

[vicki haninger]

Im happy to report that the tomatoes are ripening up quite nicely here on the ledge.

Too bad about your trees.We lost a beautiful old maple tree this year as well, andare looking at havingto take down a dozen birch treesbecause of the birch beetle infestation here in Oregon.Its always something!Sweet gums are nice, Iplanted a forest pansy3 years ago and itsshaping upbeautifully. Nice color on it this year, as well.

[vicki haninger]

Tree candy! I like that--no calories either. Perfect!

[deb]

LUCKY you...the rats ate my tomatos:(

maybe I wi;; try celery....its so useful in so many things!!!!!

[Dorothy Crutchfield]

I don't know which is the prettiest, the tomatoes in the window or the maple tree outside!
Dorothy

[Whosyergurl]

Soooooooo pretty!
xo, Cheryl