After a summer of tomatoes portrayed as the victims this year with blight devastating crops all over the region, this is even more surprising…

There really isn’t any reason to buy tomatoes at the grocery store.  Not even at Whole Foods.  They will never match the properly ripened ones from the garden.  Local farm stand ones are a very close second, but there is nothing like a freshly picked one that is still warm from the afternoon sun.  A little kosher salt is all that is needed (olive oil just dulls the flavor).

The store bought choices are picked early so they can survive shipment and extend shelf life even if they are “locally grown”.  Often they are artificially ripened with ethanol gas which is perfectly safe, however,  they aren’t quite as red as they should be and don’t achieve the melt-in-your-mouth texture of naturally ripened fruit.  Even “vine ripened” varieties where a portion of vine is attached to a few tomatoes to give the impression of additional freshness or ripeness will be disappointing once you know what a tomato can be.  Bunches of tomatoes, even the little cherry or grape varieties, don’t ripen at the same time – another sign that they are not truely “vine-ripened”.

Like baking great bread, to grow great vegetables requires patience and respect for the plants’ natural timing.  It is difficult going 9 months without tomatoes, however, when the season arrives it is worth it.

Our largest harvest yet.  53 ears of sweet corn, 2 eggplant, carrots, zucchini, summer squash, soybeans, beets, and more.

One of the best ways to celebrate the fall garden harvest is pizza from scratch.  Fresh toppings, fresh sauce, and fresh dough all make for a pizza that blows any delivery place’s pies out the water.

We’ve found the key ingredient to the best pizza – the bbq.  With the help of a pizza stone, a small electric fan, and plenty of hardwood charcoal, the hot hot temperatures needed for a wonderfully crispy, slightly smoky crust can be achieved.  Cooking outdoors certainly adds to the excitement of it.

Pizza Dough:

Yields 3 single serving pizzas
Make the dough the night before and store in the fridge.  The extra time offers the yeast a chance to further ferment and the flour to autolyse which develops more complex flavor and texture.

Ingredients

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 1/4 cups cool water

Process

1. Mix into a smooth dough
2. Allow to rise for 45 minutes
3. Refrigerate for 4-36 hours (this when the subtle flavors are developed)
4. Remove from fridge and allow to rise for 30 minutes
5. Divide into thirds and roll each piece as thin as possible without making holes
6. Add a thin layer of sauce and toppings and bake at 500F for about 8 minutes

Sauce

Don’t buy jarred sauce.  Really, don’t.  It is horrible stuff.  Corn syrup does not belong in tomato sauce.  Besides, it is extremely easy to make.

Ingredients

• 1/2 onion
• 3 lbs fresh tomatoes
• salt
• Do NOT add dried herbs.  They just ruin it.

Process

1. Finely dice the onion and saute in a pot until soft
2. Roughly chop the tomatoes and throw in the pot with the salt once the onion is soft and beginning to brown
3. Cook on medium for 10 minutes occasionally stirring the tomatoes
4. Turn off the heat and use a stick blender or food processor to liquefy the tomatoes

We harvested our first ears of corn (9!) today in celebration of Oliver’s birthday.  The first ear we ate raw right on the spot.  The kernals were still a little small but tasted sweet and tender.  We also had beet greens, beets, and collard greens from the farm with some smokey potato salad with Applefield’s potatoes.  What a fantastic dinner!

Today’s harvest:  Sweet 100 Tomatoes, French beans, broccoli, soy beans, 2 zucchini, eggplant, 2 beets, 2 carrots, 9 ears corn, collards, cilantro, basil, nasturtium flowers, onion greens

Determining the best time to pick corn has always been a bit of a mystery to us.  Squeezing the ears, it is easy to imagine feeling plump kernels through the layers of husk.  Pulling back the husk at the tip is a supposed no-no as it inhibits growth if the ear isn’t ready and invites insect.  Not only is it hard to wait for the most exciting crop of the year, there is such a small window (less than a week) when the corn is ripe before it turns starchy.

The common consensus from our research on the internet seems to be 20 days from the first silks.  Looking back at our photos, the first occurrence of a silk was around July 31st.  That would mean we have another 8 or 9 more days before our first ear.

For now we have given in and have been buying corn from the farm next door.

Because of the Mexican Bean Beetle attack we had to harvest our first planting of Jacob’s Cattle Beans earlier than we had planned.  Turned out it was probably just the right time.

We shucked them a few days after and this is what we found within the green pods.  White beans with dark red splotches that look like someone has splattered paint on them.  Absolutely gorgeous.  We’ve since kept them in a ceramic bowl on the kitchen counter and they are drying out nicely.  I hope to make baked beans in the next day or so with them.

8 foot row of Jacob’s Cattle Beans yielded about 1/2 a pound of dried beans.

Right after identifying the Mexican Bean Beetles, we were introduced to their larvae who decimated half  of our Jacob Cattle Beans plants in a day.

To protect our other bean plantings, we immediately harvested all of the beans, cut off all of the plants at the root, and composted them.

This what our plants looked like before we cut them down…

More information on these pests can be found here…

We purposely set aside an section of cilantro that we would allow to go to seed for the purpose of harvesting the seeds for cooking and hopefully sowing next year.  Today, we made our first seed harvest.  Separating the seeds can be a bit of a pain, however, I found that rolling them around in a mesh colander seems to get rid of the plant bits quite nicely.