Philosophy
The end of the semester means time to get back into the garden. This year, I had decided that I was only going to put Brandywines in the tomato bed. Best tomato on the planet, Brandywine. Certainly not the prettiest, but the size and flavor, not to mention that it's all flesh and little seed makes it our favorite. It's the sort of tomato you don't slice, you cut thick steaks out of. It's not an accent tomato that you put on a something else sandwich -- it is a sandwich.
But then, there I was at the nursery (this year, I didn't grow from seed) and I'm faced with all the varieties and suddenly I feel like I'm in the video store and picking up my Brandywine plants is kind of like choosing the chick flick of the tom section. After all, there are more manly westerns to choose from like "mule train," "Arkansas traveler," and "cherokee purple." Educational tomatoes like "Abraham Lincoln" and "Paul Robeson." "Mr. Stripey" always sounded to me like a Frank Capra kind of crop, while "bloody butcher" is the Wes Craven version. Then, of course, there are the Suze Orman financial self-help series "mortgage lifter" and "money maker." All of this is not to mention those other tomatoes, the adult plants they keep behind the little partition, you know, "big boy," "early girl," "beefmaster," "black seaman," and "wild cherry." Planting some of them, you'd not only get dirty, you'd feel dirty.
Have a nice holiday weekend everyone, whether you're in the garden or not.
- The Pedagogical Value Of Gardens
NPR has been running a series on financial literacy in which people are arguing that it is essential to work into middle and high school curricula modules teaching children about money and how to handle it. Last week, I was chatting with someone who made...
- Stink Bugs And Facebook
FBC writes, I plant a decent sized garden. I grow tomatoes, several types of squash, zucchini, pumpkins, and various peppers. I?m thinking of trying corn this coming year too. The last couple of years have been rough. Between the blight and various pests...
- Empty Bed
...
- Space Food
"Space-age food served up with seeds of success" by Xin Dingding and Jin Zhu September 4th, 2012 SPAVE TRAVEL An eggplant the size of a basketball, and a cucumber half a meter long seem, at first glance, out of this world. They are, literally....
- Ethylene And Tin...serendipity
Remember the tired tomato vines at this time of year. Some tomatoes were the size of golf balls and less and some were near ripening...the size of baseballs. And what was done? The vines were ground up and destined for the compost heap while the salvageable...
Philosophy
Tomatoes: Is Variety Really the Spice of Life or Is It Basil?
The end of the semester means time to get back into the garden. This year, I had decided that I was only going to put Brandywines in the tomato bed. Best tomato on the planet, Brandywine. Certainly not the prettiest, but the size and flavor, not to mention that it's all flesh and little seed makes it our favorite. It's the sort of tomato you don't slice, you cut thick steaks out of. It's not an accent tomato that you put on a something else sandwich -- it is a sandwich.
But then, there I was at the nursery (this year, I didn't grow from seed) and I'm faced with all the varieties and suddenly I feel like I'm in the video store and picking up my Brandywine plants is kind of like choosing the chick flick of the tom section. After all, there are more manly westerns to choose from like "mule train," "Arkansas traveler," and "cherokee purple." Educational tomatoes like "Abraham Lincoln" and "Paul Robeson." "Mr. Stripey" always sounded to me like a Frank Capra kind of crop, while "bloody butcher" is the Wes Craven version. Then, of course, there are the Suze Orman financial self-help series "mortgage lifter" and "money maker." All of this is not to mention those other tomatoes, the adult plants they keep behind the little partition, you know, "big boy," "early girl," "beefmaster," "black seaman," and "wild cherry." Planting some of them, you'd not only get dirty, you'd feel dirty.
Have a nice holiday weekend everyone, whether you're in the garden or not.
- The Pedagogical Value Of Gardens
NPR has been running a series on financial literacy in which people are arguing that it is essential to work into middle and high school curricula modules teaching children about money and how to handle it. Last week, I was chatting with someone who made...
- Stink Bugs And Facebook
FBC writes, I plant a decent sized garden. I grow tomatoes, several types of squash, zucchini, pumpkins, and various peppers. I?m thinking of trying corn this coming year too. The last couple of years have been rough. Between the blight and various pests...
- Empty Bed
...
- Space Food
"Space-age food served up with seeds of success" by Xin Dingding and Jin Zhu September 4th, 2012 SPAVE TRAVEL An eggplant the size of a basketball, and a cucumber half a meter long seem, at first glance, out of this world. They are, literally....
- Ethylene And Tin...serendipity
Remember the tired tomato vines at this time of year. Some tomatoes were the size of golf balls and less and some were near ripening...the size of baseballs. And what was done? The vines were ground up and destined for the compost heap while the salvageable...