A Tale of Tomatoes

Tomatoes in November - One of the more pleasant surprises our garden has provide this Fall is simply that it is still providing us with food.  It's the beginning of November and I have yet to purchase produce.  I know that will change very quickly, but as for now I'm just grateful.  The cucumbers have finally given up, the squash are history, but there are still salad greens to be had each day, and, best of all, tomatoes. The tomatoes are lovely.  As you may know, in the Northwest, this was not a great year for tomatoes.  Others have said the same. We got a late start, we then hit by cold damp weather and the tomato plants didn't like it.  Our plants were smaller than usual, and much later to produce.  Every year Reyn plants close to a dozen tomato plants.  His favorite variety is  Early Girl.  They are vigorous plants which produce an abundance of very tasty fruit.  We also grow a few varieties of cherry-type tomatoes and maybe some Romas.  This year we were excited to try something new.

My mother had mentioned our garden when speaking to her 90 year old brother who lives in Missouri.  He and his wife still live in the country and grow a garden every year.  They kindly sent my mother some of the tomato seeds from their favorite tomatoes, Arkansas Travelers, to be shared with us.  They have been saving seeds for years.  The Arkansas Travelers have now made it to the Northwest.  Now, mind you, the growing conditions in Missouri are quite a bit different from those in the Willamette Valley, but how could we pass up the opportunity to try these beloved seeds.

Reyn planted the seeds, then moved the plants into the garden.  They looked kind of scrawny and not happy with the cool weather, and by late summer had not really produced much fruit. The tomatoes were fairly small in size and a kind of a pinkish/red color.  The flavor was good, and quite different from the Early Girls, but they were late in ripening, with lots of green tomatoes on the vines as Fall approached.  Well, Fall is here, Winter is approaching, and we are still eating Arkansas Travelers.  They have been ripening a few at a time, long after our Early Girls have given up. Whenever cold rainy weather was predicted I headed out to the garden and harvested any tomatoes that were beginning to turn toward red, bringing them inside,before they could be damaged by the rain.  I've been doing that for weeks.  The tomatoes on the vines have held on, undamaged.  No rot, not splitting.  Still giving me very nice, tasty tomatoes - in November.

 Reyn has been cleaning up the garden beds and needed to pull the tomatoes to make room for his cold-frame.  I brought in the remaining Arkansas Travelers hoping that the green ones will also make it to red.   I think we'll plant them again next year. Thank you Uncle Loyd.