a case of tomato poisoning

A CASE OF TOMATO POISONING
last week i wrote a blog called organic weed killer
in the blog i mentioned purslane and amaranth as invasive plants in our garden
both of which we eat in salads and pull the rest out of the garden

here is the purple amaranth plants near the garden with thousands of seeds that will seed the garden probably for years to come whether we want it or not
keep that in mind if you decide to plant some

this is the purslane that grows wild here in the garden
thankfully its easy to pull up

i usually go to my garden every day or two to harvest stuff
i usually get a haul like this one of squash beans peppers okra eggplant cukes and lots and lots of good ole juicy tasty tomatoes

now mr tomato man appeared in my garden recently
i first noticed it when some elementary kids wondered into the garden one sunday morning as they were walking their dog in the neigborhood
they were certainly intrigued with mr tomato man
we added two christmas lima beans for his sunglasses
he has since grown some as has his nose so that he now is a ripe old man
we cant decide to eat him or not so we are just letting him ripen and ripen
ms b loves him also

this tomato is a heirloom either a black krim or a cherokee purple
we cut it this way like two hearts
i ate one
my wife she ate the other

heirlooms like this above and those below are what tomatoes use to be like in the old days before the flavor was bred out of them in favor of better storage and a a better look in the store

im sorry but these tomatoes are the best looking of any tomatoes that you can grow
wish all of them tasted this good

these are my favorite small tomatoes called sun gold
this one is thanks ms b since she planted it in her small garden here at the community garden
they are yellow and have a real sweet taste and produce a lot of tomatoes
i have eat hundreds of these already

here is a haul of a few days of tomatoes minus those i ate in the garden when i was working minus those we ate in salads or cooking or canned

for those tomato growers im growing brown cherry early girl i think mr tomato head is really an early girl so that makes him her a trans tomato black krim cherokee purple roma sweet 100 cherry some heirloom russian tomato someone gave me celebrity brandywine sun gold juliette cherry also a mini mexican heirlom cherry

my lunch every day is to take two slices of bread and add two big slices of those big juicy heirlooms or if not available big juicy slices of red tomatoes with a sprinkling of salt plus a slicing off a zucchini squash and a slicing off our armenian cuke and a slicing off an onion with a handful of garden salad mix
this makes the best ever sandwich
the kind you cant go in and buy anywhere
its all from our garden

now ive been eating a ton of tomatoes
probably way too much
my mouth is starting to get sore
my tongue feels like i burned it
all from eating tomaotes
if you love tomatoes you know what im talking about
im like a bear that keeps eating honey even though the bees keep stinging them

last week i felt funny on wed then had gi symptoms on thursday unable to eat solids
that didnt keep me from getting my infusion at ucla though

i told them i had
not food poisoning
but
tomato poisoning

lycopene overdose it was maybe
lycopene is the good stuff thats found in tomatoes
its good for the prostate and for bone health and blood pressure and for skin

i told my wife she i know its tomato poisoning

i think its from tomatotene
its a condition that you get from eating too much tomatoes especially
organically grown tomaotes
especially
organically grown heirloom tomatoes

it causes
a sore mouth
a sore tongue
a full tummy
a satisfying just ate the best sandwich ever feeling
and
a big ole smile on your face

all worth it i must add

the organicgreen doctor

its worth it

ITS WORTH IT

way back in the unrelenting humid heat of july
hb the ut grad student and i prepared this bed
in my organic garden for planting my six fall tomatoes

yes you have to think ahead when gardening
i kept the tomatoes protected early on
with solar screening to keep away the oppressive heat
watered them with some drip irrigation
combining it with deep watering underground

for this bed i used buried 5 gallon buckets between
each tomato
with holes drilled on the bottom and up above ground
to allow the water to get deep into the soil

i chose to not stake them but leave them growing on
the ground
so it would be easier to cover them up this fall

we fought off lots of grasshoppers
and
too much rain
at one point
but
as i looked forward to this upcoming week
there was that
first freeze warning for the hill countries

so
i told my wife she
its time

so
i went out and picked
all my eggplants
all my okra
went into the freezer and pulled out our frozen purple hull peas
dumped the chopped eggplants and chopped okra
into a crockpot with the peas

adding my pea bean recipe
ms dash seasoning salt crushed black pepper butter olive oil
chopped garlic chopped onion chopped poblano pepper
a can of diced fire roasted tomatoes was added
the concoction was cooked for several hours
added a pan of my wife shes cast iron skillet cornbread to the meal
it doesnt get better than that
most of the ingredients were from our garden
eggplant peas okra garlic onions poblano

then
we harvested all of the tomatoes
well the biggest ones

the smaller ones got left on the vines
hoping that by adding the white row cover
maybe just maybe they would survive to grow larger
time will tell

i know i have lost all my fall tomatoes before from freezing
i was determined to not let that happen this time

im glad we covered them up well
since this weekend we got below 28 degrees here
at the country n

so far i have been afraid to peak under the row cover
at the tomatoes and peppers
to see if they survived the freeze
maybe today i will

so we took all these green tomatoes
probably close to
well we didnt count them
but lets say 50-100 of these medium sized green tomatoes
wrapped each one in newspaper
dropped them in this box
we also picked a few peppers bell banana jalapeno poblano

in a few weeks they will be the most delicious organic tomatoes
much better than what is in the stores now

here is one that was almost ripe
it will be eaten today four days after it was picked
it is a tycon tomato

thanks to hb for planting these

my wife she and i want to wish everyone
a happy thanksgiving

the organicgreen doctor

dear ms b-eat what you sow

DEAR MS B-EAT WHAT YOU SOW

ms b
what i have found in helping school kids
even high school kids
if you get them to plant veggies in the garden
they will eat them
since they are actively involved in farming the produce

this happened at your gmas school where the high school
kids would dig in the dirt plant the carrots or onions or
tomatoes or swiss chard or spinach or kale
then
you would see them out in the garden pick off a leaf
eating it

things they would have never eaten before

once when i was helping an elementary group plant their garden
we had spinach and swiss chard that we were planting
most of the kids had never tasted swiss chard
most did not like spinach
but
when they planted their own spinach and their own swiss chard
i said here taste it
they would pinch off a leave
chew it
i like it they would say

i bet if their mom gave it to them in the kitchen
they would refuse it

so ms b
this summer when we were visiting
your dad and i
worked on a square foot garden for you and your mom and dad
adding compost and fertlizers
planting veggies
watering them in with that seaweed molasses fish emulsion mix
to jump start them

so ms b
in that picture above
your aunt is holding you
you are helping me pour that mixture on the new plantings
now
two months later
you are eating what you sowed

i saw that picture of you sitting in that wagon
holding that little cherry tomato
actually its a big cherry tomato
chopping on it
all that tomato juice was running down your face
onto your pretty little dress
but
you seemed so happy
to be eating your first harvest of tomatoes

so heres hoping
that there will be more harvests for you
of
your own organic tomatoes

indoctrination has begun

the organicgreen doctor