Pick your own

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

We took a field trip to Linvilla Orchards this morning. This was my first trip to Linvilla in a couple of years. The last time we went was on a weekend in the height of fall apple season and there must have been 10,000 people there. Today was lovely. Just an hour after opening in the middle of the week, it’s not crowded at all.

Blackberry picking was excellent. Blueberries were pretty picked over so we moved on. Peaches weren’t quite ripe so we didn’t spend too much time there. The tomatoes were fantastic. We ended up picking a pound and a half of blackberries, enough blueberries for a small snack, about 10 pounds of tomatoes and two pounds of peaches. My son ran out of steam so we held off on the apples and grapes. Corn is cheaper by 25 cents an ear at my local farmer’s market on Fridays so I’ll continue buying my corn from the nice Amish family who treks out here once a week.

I’m currently debating whether to freeze or can the tomatoes, which coincides quite nicely with Nicole’s post. I don’t have canning equipment, but it seems like it would be a worthwhile purchase, especially since my chest freezer is permanently out of commission. I’ll probably end up freezing most of the eggplants and green beans in my garden so it would be nice to can the Roma tomatoes to make room.

I have a confession to make. I don’t particularly care for raw tomatoes. I love them roasted, grilled, and in sauces and salsas, but a slice of tomato, on its own or in a sandwich doesn’t appeal to me at all. I almost always pick the raw tomatoes out of everything I eat. I guess I’m just not a tomato person. But these Sungold Cherry tomatoes?

They’re the sweetest tomatoes I’ve ever eaten and it seems like it would be a waste to eat them any other way. With tomatoes like these I might become a tomato person after all.