Black Krim and Mourning Dove

The other day I had my first home grown tomato, a Black Krim. On the outside they look red but when you cut them open you can see the dark color in the flesh and seeds.

These are the first three tomatoes I picked. The flesh is splitting due to all the rain but it heals up and they are still edible. One is Cherokee purple, and the other is Black Krim. The yellow tomato I think it's Lemon Boy isn't that flavorful to my taste buds. The Cherokee purples and the black Krim are much better. I've found two horn worms so far and picked them off. I don't know how they find the tomatoes but they do.

 At the farmer's market this week I got these pattypan squash.

 I also got all of these shallots for three dollars. They'll last me a good long while.

We've become addicted to the white half runner beans. I cook them with onion, garlic and fresh tomatoes. They are so delicious. Even though I have to string and snap them the flavor is worth the trouble.

As we were sitting on the deck yesterday Gary spied this bird in the grass. He went down to take a photo and saw it was a mourning dove. I think it was taking advantage of the little bit of sun we had briefly. Hope you have a relaxing fourth of July. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Fortuitous, Strange Topper, & Vandals

The other day when I was working at the gallery the woman I was working with mentioned she had some tomato cages and since she is moving to near Savannah she didn't want them. She asked if I wanted them and I said yes, how fortuitous. We didn't bring ours from Florida since they are so awkward to pack.

I got the tomato cages put up just in time because three of the plants are already two feet tall. In the picture above you can see we have wired the cages to the retaining wall to keep them from blowing over. When I heard all the rain that Texas and Oklahoma had was coming our way I thought, oh no, the tomatoes are going to be over watered. I rigged up some plastic tops in hopes they only get a small amount of rainfall. This clay soil really holds the moisture.

 Here's the Black Krim tomato already setting fruit.

 Here's Mr. Stripey with a couple of young fruits.

Here's one of my strange plastic toppers for the tomato cage, hope it works. It's been pouring rain all night long and more rain is expected all this week.

After our jeep club party yesterday we learned vandals poured nails at each driveway entrance all along the road. We all went out and picked up as many nails as we could. But several of us got nails in our tires anyway. We were one of them and our tires are brand new. The sheriff was called and came to make a report and he sent out the road department to see what they could do. Why would anyone do such a malicious thing? Thanks for reading and for all your comments.