Its now mid to late summer and February is the month for tomatoes.

By end of month we are harvesting 3-4kg of fruit every other day and my focus shifts to washing, roasting, pureeing and bottling whilst the fruit is at its finest.  There are so many ways to bottle tomatoes, its another entry for another time.  Perhaps you are blessed to have been raised in the craft.

Fundamentally and most paramount it all comes down to the tomatoes.

We eat so many of them with the type of ‘one pot wonder’ cooking I do. The plants are hardy and generous.  I think no shop bought tomato can compare on flavour to those homegrown. I also suspect our keenness in growing them is an impatient response to waiting for our trees to grow something that resembles fruit.

Short term gratification indeed.

I find the whole process an absorbing mix of learning and honing horticultural, cooking and preserving skills, daring experimentation and diligently (aspirationally!) recording outcomes. I like assessing and working on a plant, to maximise its potential, and the reward, as you harvest and bottle potentially wonderful meals for the year.

Effort and reward – I do wonder who is controlling whom here.

Watch this space – it’s the new bed for the Longview Garlic crop this year.  This 1,000sqm space has to be mowed (with my trusty skateboard and blade aka the ride on mower), sprayed, fertilised, limed and ripped (yes I will be on the tractor) to make space for the bulbs to be planted in April/May weather permitting.  Whilst I don’t aim for organic/biodynamic certification I am very conscious of limiting my use of sprays and additives to those identified as suitable by these farming practices.  I now have to work this out so feel free to tell me what you know – what fun!

February Book List

“We too often fail to state our needs as clearly as we should, say yes to everyone else’s demands, and then from this grow increasingly ragged, angry and bitter. A lack of selfishness can turn us slowly into highly disagreeable, as well as ineffective, people.” http://www.theschooloflife.com