Days 417 - 430 The Tomato

We wait for this time of the year...the time for ripe tomatoes!! There are some who watch their green tomatoes never quite turn before the cool weather sets in, pretty much setting the stage for another year "without". Yet, those same people will plant again the next year in hope that they will get those special summer treats that we all love so much.

We are quite fortunate here in Healdsburg that even in a relatively cool summer we have enough heat to ripen these treats each year. Right now we are in the middle of a great harvest. We picked 30 tomatoes in the past two weeks, with various varieties sharing the table: Celebrity, Rainbow, Kellogs Breakfast, and Black Krim. One of the Rainbow tomatoes weighed in at over a pound!!

I do plan on planting some chard tomorrow and perhaps set a bed of Arugula seeds down for a spicy salad green.

As for the harvest, we really do not even look at the fruit at the grocery store at this time of the year. We have been eating those pears as they ripen and we harvest a cluster or two of grapes almost daily for the kids' lunches. As you can see down below in the summary, we have harvested 10 different varieties for a total of $162 over the two-week period. Sure helps the food budget stretch itself!!

A two-week summary if you do not want to read the details:
Kale: 1 bunch ($2.00)
Raspberries: 6 baskets ($12.00)
Strawberries: 1 basket ($2.00)
Cherry Tomatoes: 7 baskets ($14.00)
Zuchinni: 7 ($8.50)
Cucumbers: 18 ($16.00)
Tomatoes: 30 ($33.00)
Pears: 75 ($53.00)
Grapes: 7 lbs ($14.00)
Potatoes: 1 1/2 lb ($1.50)

Year 2, Day 52
1) 1 zuke
2) 3 tomatoes
3) 2 baskets raspberries

Year 2, Day 53
1) 11 oz grapes
2) 13 pears
3) 5 cukes
4) 1 tomato
5) 1 basket cherry tomatoes

Year 2, Day 54
1) 12 pears
2) 12 oz grapes
3) 1 basket cherry tomatoes

Year 2, Day 55
1) 4 tomatoes
2) 1 cuke
3) 8 oz grapes

Year 2, Day 56
1) 1 basket cherry tomatoes
2) 8 oz grapes
3) 2 baskets raspberries

Year 2, Day 57
1) 3 cukes
2) 20 pears

Year 2, Day 58
1) 3 tomatoes
2) 2 zukes
3) basket of cherry tomatoes
4) 1 1/2 lb potatoes

Year 2, Day 59
1) 1 tomato
2) 1 bunch kale
3) 4 oz grapes

Year 2, Day 60
1) 1 lb grapes
2) 16 pears
3) 8 tomatoes
4) 2 cukes

Year 2, Day 61
1) 9 oz. grapes

Year 2, Day 62
1) 4 zukes
2) 3 tomatoes
3) 14 pears
4) 7 cukes
5) 12 oz grapes

Year 2, Day 63
1) 1 basket strawberries
2) 1 basket cherry tomatoes
3) 2 tomatoes

Year 2, Day 64
1) 7 oz grapes

Year 2, Day 65
1) 5 tomatoes
2) 1 1/2 lb grapes
3) 2 baskets cherry tomatoes
4) 2 baskets raspberries

Two-Week harvest: $162.00

Total Produce Harvested : $2084.25
Total Honey Harvested: $360.00
Expenses: $250.00