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Tomatoes: What are those Red Things I’ve Been Eating?Category: Sustainability | Permalink Published: Saturday, July 17, 2010 "The best fertilizer is the gardener's shadow." - Author Unknown. It's true. I am amazed at how simple it is to grow big, out-of-this-world, delicious tomatoes. Or to watch a zucchini grow from a bright yellow flower to a veggie the size of my arm. For some odd reason, while growing up, I subconsciously thought that gardening required lots of sprays, gasmasks and bug bombs. However, now that I'm older, I think of rockdust, worm castings, ladybugs and some personal TLC when I consider a vegetable garden. Not to mention the reward you receive in the form a delicious veggie.
It's no surprise to me that the National Gardening Association says about 7 million more households will grow their own vegetables this year, a rise of about 19 percent. Altogether, about 43 million U.S. households grow their own veggies. In other words, there are 7 million families who will discover what a real tomato tastes like, and how different it is from the perfectly round, waxed, shiny, buffed red tomato that you buy for $1.99 per pound with a cool sticker on its genetically modified thick skin. The anticipation of watching your own seeds sprouting to a mature plant, and watching the small yellow flowers turn into tomatoes can easily be life-changing. That irregular, dirty, sticker-less tomato from the garden will have so much more flavor than its grocery store counterpart that you will want to eat it like an apple.
Next time you're sipping wine in our Reserve Room, take a moment and check out our garden. We have already harvested bushels of sweet little strawberries for our Wine Club Member amuse bushe in the Smokehouse Restaurant. And soon, we will have enough life-changing tomatoes for our bruschetta appetizer and caprese salad. -Derek Van Gompel
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Post a CommentOther Recent ArticlesNot For the Faint of Heart or the Weak of StomachsCategory: Food and Drink Published: Wednesday, September 01, 2010 I consider myself an adventurous eater. I suppose it started when I was very young and I would look forward to the rare times when GOB (grandma of blogger) would make menudo, a Mexican soup traditionally served on special occasions... When I first moved away from Southern California and to the east coast, I didn't realize what a challenge it would be to find great tasting fruits and vegetables. After all, in the land of year-round sunshine, it's easy to find corn in November... I could hardly wait to get out of work on Monday. HOB (husband of blogger) was coming home after his job took him far away for far too long. A nice dinner out would have been appropriate but HOB had been dining out daily on mediocre restaurants for nearly 3 weeks; needless to say, a home cooked meal was in order... HOB's (husband of blogger) job sometimes takes him to far-away places for long periods of time. Time for take out and restaurants, right? Wrong. To me, there is something fundamentally satisfying about cooking a nice meal for myself, and eating off of real plates versus out of takeout containers... There's Always Room For Meat and PotatoesCategory: Food and Drink Published: Thursday, August 05, 2010 It's a no-brainer for many people that daily dinner MUST include some form of meat and potato. However, during this time of year, these two supper staples nearly disappear from my table, not because I don't enjoy them, but because the summer bounty simply begs to be the star of the show: colorful heirloom tomatoes, tender zucchini, sweet corn, luscious eggplants, and a plethora of fruit are all so plentiful and delicious... |
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About this Page: It’s true. I am amazed at how simple it is to grow big, out-of-this-world, delicious tomatoes.