a week of tomatoes and apples

60 pounds of tomatoes from “our gathering farm” (the folks with whom we have a csa- that is quinn’s name for gathering together farm), 53 pounds of apples, and 7 pounds of pears this week. some canned, some on their way there, some consumed fresh, and bunches more to process. last night quinn carefully counted what was left in the tomato box- 13 left, plus 9 on the windowsill… incidentally, one can save lots of money on organic produce by ordering in bulk from a farm, and requesting #2 or second quality produce. in some cases one might be trading off quality, but i have to say, that gtf #2s are #1 in my book! these tomatoes have been glorious to work with all week.

picking “free range” fruit on wednesday was deliciousness- pear juice dripping down our chins as we waded through blackberry and poison oak to discover new trees and see what they held in store for us. it’s our second year traveling to our top secret picking location. we are starting to think of ourselves as stewards of this somewhat neglected land. we strategically tossed our cores into locations where we think it would be nice for new trees to grow for the future generations, and contemplated bringing pruning equipment back next time with us. this season is so lovely, so plentiful, and so fleeting that it makes it easy to forgive it for being slightly out of control. 😉

quinn has a blast helping me can. in addition to practicing his counting, he is always up for measuring and manipulating all of the canning equipment. (in fact, i always have to borrow back “his” jar lifters, or as he calls them, his big tongs, when i need to use them). and lately he has been so off in his own world (usually on a make believe ship somewhere fishing the high seas) that it is refreshing when he wants to come fetch the next “big whopper” tomato for me to chop. even if, to him, it happens to be a salmon at the moment. 🙂