Saturday, November 06, 2010

The Last (sniff) Tomato

All good things must come to an end, or so I've been told. Today was a day for planting winter vegetables...fava beans, three kinds of peas, baby greens and spinach. Seeds for swiss chard, radishes, beets and carrots had already been planted and with rain predicted for tomorrow I wanted to plant everything else on the list. As it headed past noon I thought I would have a lunch break before moving on to a bit of leaf raking and weeding. I remembered noticing that the last tomato plant still growing, a Nyagous, had an almost ripe tomato the other day and when I looked I decided it was the day for The Last Tomato of 2010. Lucky for me I had made some pesto yesterday and also happened upon some difficult to find burrata cheese at the market. This happy combination sounded like lunch to me! As I enjoyed this last tomato I recalled my friend Carol's Ritual of the First Tomato. I decided the last one deserved recognition, too, as we now head into the long dark days of no fresh homegrown tomatoes. At least I can take comfort in the fact that this was not the last strawberry...there is one more just beginning to ripen!

7 comments:

Carol Michel said...

I'll bet that tasted very good. A taste to remember through the long winter.

Thanks for remembering my ritual!

Gail said...

Leslie, Both are good rituals to have~It makes me think about how the first and last bites of a favorite dish are the best! BTW, I ate the last of my Sungold tomatoes yesterday! gail I have got to try the cheese!

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

It's always bittersweet, eating that last fruit from the garden. This morning I made an omelette with the last of the bell peppers. A last ritual is a good way to say farewell to the gardening season.

Unknown said...

Aww... it looked delicious, at least! (And you get to plant "winter vegetables"... many of the rest of us are totally jealous of that. :)

Kathy said...

Yeah, it boggles my mind that you are planting all the cold crops that I will soon enjoy the last of.

Commonweeder said...

We have long been without tomatoes. Last week we had the last lettuce, but yesterday when I was pulling up the last of the broccoli plants I found enough broccoli for supper. This morning the garden is covered in ice for sleet fell all night.

Cindy, MCOK said...

Your summer weather didn't make for very good tomatoes this year, at least production wise, right? Here's to more and better tomatoes in 2011!