To Bee, or Not to Bee, and Other Veggie Tales

Well, 2 days after my wee Bees showed up for a Staycation at Wolfdancer Creek Farm, the bee house blew out of the wee Grand Fir (ain't she Grand!) and they swarmed off in a huff. Since they weren't IN the bee house, only huddled between the walls of the bee house and the trunk of the Fir like small tiger-eye beads bee-decking the fragrant green of the needles, there wasn't any harm to the bees... I was quite concerned!

Poor wee dears. I hope they know how welcomed they are here.

It's been brutal hot here, we've broke records for heat, and continous hot days. I may have lost my trained larch /sadness! And my evergreen huckleberries are taking a terrible hit.

And I just have not felt much like cooking. Imagine that. So, when my friend Greig came over after he'd been at the Estacada Farmer's Market selling the Zark Galactic Emperor's Finest Soap, I defrosted a nice roast I had had tucked away, and went a'foraging out in the garden.

Now I have not been able to even LOOK at my Gardens, only have had time to put water on everything as frantically as possible; work at work, and water as frantically as possible THERE, try to deal with the fairly intense pain that my slip & fall on-the-job accident has incurred, (standing and walking without being able to sit and shift every hour feels like walking with ground up glass between my hip socket and my thigh bone) Try to deal with the fact that my manager is one of the most truly unhappy humans I have ever met, and takes it out on everyone around her. I am afraid that she is trying to make this job intolerable, trying hard to make me quit, or worse, let me go (or in her words "take me off the schedule" because I cannot "do the job I was hired to do") because of the accident. So I am trying to work hard to put myself in her shoes, and understand her viewpoint so that I may be kind. And still watch my back. *wry chuckle* It's Tricksey! Trying to keep the remainder of the new Guinea hens alive, trying to keep the Song Dogs happy, trying to fight the stupid fleas which are going CRAZY with this heat, and havingthemselves a hatching from HELL-o operator! Give me the flea police..

So yesterday, I went out to see if there was anything ripe I could add to the bar-b-q'd roast for dinner. I found 2 mostly ripened Celebrities, about the size of a very large lemon. I found 1 nicely ripened Abe Lincoln. I found 1 nicely ripened Stupice. and a whole bowlful of Sun Golds.

So I am thinking I need to journal what I liked, and what I didn't like, and why. So far, there is no dislikes!

The Celebrities, as per usual, were DELICIOUS! even not-quite ripe, they were tangy, good acid, nearly seedless, and juicy. They had greenish shoulders still. I should've left them on the vine for one maybe two more days. But one had a bit of a hole, so I figured I'd pluck it. About 3 1/2" in diameter.

The Abe Lincoln was also VERY flavorful! A nearly perfect tomato, it was round, bright-dark red, Great acid tang! Really has that "old fashioned tomato flavor"!!! About 3" in diameter.

The Stupice was DEEP bright red! a medium sized 2" in diameter tomato, it had an almost sweet tangy taste! For a very early tomato, I was VERY pleased with the taste! I will definitely grow this one again! Extends my tomato growing season by about a month.

The Sun Golds, of course, are so sweet with a bit of tang, that they are almost dessert tomatoes. They are prone to spliting, tho, so I try to pick them right away when ripe, wash them (IF they make it inside!) and dry them off by placing them on a paper towel. If I leave them to air dry, they will split. Putthem in the fridge right away after blotting them with the paper towel so as to avoid the umbiquious fruit flies. I like them cut in half in a bowl full of large curd cottage cheese. YUM! OR by the handfulls fresh and warm out of the garden.

I added a young cucumber out of the garden, and just cut them up. No salad dressing, just a bit of salt and pepper. We felt like tomato connoisseurs!

I am excited that the Abe Lincoln, a heritage tomato, turned out so well, as did the Stupice. I am looking forward to seeing how the Carbon Black tomatoes taste, and whether the Bonnie Bests are worth growing, since of all my 'maters, the Bonnie Bests seem always to be having troubles. Curley leaves, or yellowy. Now I know I'm not groing tomato leaves, so I will have to see if the taste is worth the extra effort.

I'm kind of excited to be doing this taste test! I know others are doing it, so perhaps Hanna of This Garden is Illegal will help me out on descriptions.

I planted:
Box Car Willie
* Abe Lincoln
Stupice
Glacier
Carbon Black
Bonnie Best

Early Goliath
* Celebrity
* Sun Gold

I think that's it...
Next year, I'm going to add:

Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red
Dagma's Perfection
Gary Ipsen's Gold
Cherokee Purple
Nyagous

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
happy Gardening!

>^,,^<