Produce Produce

Today we finish off what will probably be the last of this year’s crop of tomatoes. Penny once again had to force feed me pasta cruda yesterday and BLTs today. Last year the animals – rats, opossum (?), and birds devastated my tomatoes. This year I moved my tomato plants close to the house, put them inside our dog cage to keep the 4 legged critters away and covered the tops of the plants with various configurations of string, aluminum foil, a traffic cone, a piece of garden hose, an old mop, plastic bags, and a coat hanger. There were also regular patrols by Marmalade, her kitten, Ranger and Max. Even with all that some were lost to the birds. When we got back from the memorial service this year all of the ripe tomatoes were eaten by them. We’ve had a fairly constant supply of tomatoes this year from just 3 plants. They are wilting with the heat now.

It’s also been a good year this year for my favorite fruits. I don’t know why, but it’s been good eats. First of all, the watermelons have been juicy and sweet. To my surprise the cherries have been plentiful and firm and sweet and on sale at Publix for most of the Summer. We have had good luck with peaches, plums, and nectarines, too. Now that we are into August, it won’t be long before this year’s crop of scuppernongs comes in.

We also grew some eggplant, green peppers, rosemary, thyme, parsley and, of course, basil.

I’m hoping this trend continues. It’s been nice having a handful of cherries and a drink of watermelon every day.
OK- here is an off the wall reference to watermelon. You know that there have been studies teaching Chimpanzees to talk in sign language. At first there was a question whether the chimps were really thinking or just mimicking. What clinched it for one researcher was the day they gave the chimps watermelon as a treat. When they ran out of the melon they substituted another fruit. One chimp didn’t eat the substitute. Instead he signed – “ Want more of the sweet eat-drink food.” After that there was no question about the chimps’ abilities.