November Tomatoes

The high tunnel is still going. Going crazy with cherry tomatoes in fact. Picked these today. As in - picked in NOVEMBER!

The plants are getting a little wilty on top, so it's time to get the row covers out and give a little added protection from the cold.

Simple Salad III

Really more of a mid summer salad than late, as I imagine most people's cucumbers are done for the year. This one came delivered from a very kind neighbor.

Not my personal favorite, but it is another fresh, simple dish. The recipe comes from my husband's family and, inexplicably, the recipe card says 'NOT' to change ingredients. Huh. Well you can guess how I feel about that. The original only called for cucumbers, but it works just fine with tomatoes too.

1 cup mayo (or a lot less!)
1 tbl. vinegar
2 tbl. milk
1 tsp. sugar
salt & pepper

I'm thinking a nice dose of dill would be good in here too. What else?

Simple Salad II

Another simple, late summer salad. Tomatoes, a little basil chiffonade, and fresh mozzarella. Sprinkle with a coarse salt and balsamic vinegar.

And do splurge on the good mozzarella--the kind that comes in the round balls.

(That's another thing I need to learn to make: fresh cheese!)

Simple Salad

Meet one of my all time favorite veggie concoctions: avocado, red pepper and tomato.

Chop it all up, sprinkle with coarse salt, and splash on some lime juice. Key lime, if you're feeling foxy.

(Also good with chopped cucumbers.)

(Above) These are the tomatoes inside the high tunnel, taken with the camera up at EYE LEVEL.

(Below) And these are the tomatoes outside, taken with the camera at HIP LEVEL.

It's been a cool, cool summer and our heat-lovin' plants are not exactly thriving. My cousin said they've just started to harvest the early "Fourth of July" tomatoes in her garden plot.

All I can say is that they better get going, or we're all going to have to go southern and start eating a lot of fried green tomatoes this fall.

A Tale of Two Tomatoes

Our high tunnel tomatoes aren't really any further along than anyone else's this summer. It'll be a while before these three paste toms are ready to eat. All the plants are big and healthy thought.

The real test will be to see how late we can get tomatoes this fall. These plants fall in the tiny and might-not-make-it category. Can you even see that poor naked little stem about an inch in front of the stake??? We have a whole row of little cherry tomatoe buggers like that. If they make it, we might be harvesting in October. How cool would that be?

Live, little plants, live.