Gardening in 2012...Tomatoes!

Was gardening good for us in 2012?  No, not really.  Well, now if you ask me about tomatoes...  Ok, yes!  We had a bumper crop of tomatoes!  



Celebrity Tomatoes

 We decided to only grow Celebrity and Roma tomatoes this year.  Yes, I know.   Celebrity is not organic.  It is a hybrid.  We grew lots of different kinds of tomatoes last year.  We wanted to test them, what grew great in our area, how they tasted, etc.  The only really good producer for us was the Celebrity.  And, they tasted great too!  So, that is all we grew this year. 

Here are the rows of tomato plants just a few days after planting.

And boy, oh boy, did we have a bumper crop!!  We would have had even more if we had of been diligent with staking the plants.  We were late with our staking so we lost probably as many as we picked.

One of only 4 wagon loads of tomatoes! Pretty, huh?

Oh, did you know that goats LOVE (no, really...I mean LOVE) tomatoes?  One of our LaMancha goats, Anaheim, got to this wagon load.  There were lots more piled high but, well, like I said, Anaheim was hungry!  Oh, and did you also know that goats are messy eaters?!? Well, now you do.   Don't invite one for dinner unless you are prepared!

Anyway, back to tomatoes...  Around our farm, gardening (and all that goes with it) is a family affair.   We all work together doing all the work.  We think that is completely fair since we all reap the benefits.    But, you know what??  Gardening work can be fun!!  And, it takes a lot less time for 6 people to hoe the garden than it does just one.  

Here are some pictures of our canning adventure...



Houston is a pro!

Delanie is such a hard worker!

Mason was very helpful too! 

We found that it was so easy to peel tomatoes after putting them in a hot water bath.  That means putting them in boiling water for just 30 seconds or so.  Then, we put into cold water for a few minutes.  This makes the peeling basically just fall off of them! 

Tomatoes in Hot Water Bath

See?  No peeling needed!

Here we are in the thick of it...hot water bath, cold water bath, peeling/coring, cooking down the tomatoes a little, actual canning...makes for a messy and long day!

Scott isn't really mad...he really enjoys canning tomatoes! LOL!

And, drum roll please......

SOME of the final product!!  Beautiful, huh?

I certainly can't say we're the best canners in the world, but we get the job done!!  And, we have a little fun doing it too!!  

We learn more and more every year we garden.  One of the most important things is to "stay ahead of the game".   We have difficulty keeping ahead of the weeding, etc.  I hope that we will do better this year.  I am so excited that it's nearly time to begin planting here in East Texas.  We need to have onions and potatoes in the ground by the 15th of February.  Oh boy, I better get busy...tilling!!!