Sunday check-in: tomatoes

When we moved into our house this past May, we were so busy with all the unpacking, painting and other maintenance that we didn't get around to much garden work, but we did manage to plant nine tomato plants.  Since they were in a part of the yard that doesn't get as much sun, they only ripened a handful of their fruits before the frost.  But we were able to pick a good harvest of the green fruit, which we have been keeping inside.  They have been ripening gradually, giving us fresh tomatoes through the month of October, and we'll see how far into November they go.

We planted four varieties: Early Girl, some sort of beefsteak, Supersweet 100 cherry, and Old German.  These last ones are supposed to get pretty big but none of them did; I plan on putting in more of them next year in the sunny spot of the yard and hope we'll get big ones.  I like their flavor and their yellow color (tinged with red).

Some pictures:

The still-ripening big ones, and the ripe ones, sorted out as of yesterday

The ripe big ones (please excuse my pajamas)

And of course with Idaho's latest potato crop in, it's also hashbrown time again!  I devised an "October Breakfast" of hashbrowns surrounded by fresh homegrown tomato wedges, with a slice of cheese (Havarti) on top.

 

My "October Breakfast" - I know it could be fancier, maybe with some radishes and sprigs of herbs.  I'll keep working on it.

I have eaten this several times - one big Russet yields a batch of hashbrowns, so if we bake a few extra then I've got a variety of hot breakfasts for a week (along with grits and Scottish oatmeal - ground at home on the Corona mill).

This isn't even mentioning all the apples we've got from our untended old tree: a box still in the garage and almost a gallon of applesauce in the fridge - just puree these apples and they make a wonderful sauce, no need to add sweetener or anything else!

Here's wishing everyone a spooky scary Halloween!  Snake's Knees and Ratchafratch!