I got the neatest idea from Kathi over at Oak Hill Homestead. She has been growing perennial tomatoes! When I saw that description, I was immediately intrigued. Here is what she is doing this year, and I am going to see if I can duplicate her success by doing the same thing.
So, here goes. We have really enjoyed our Arkansas Traveler tomatoes this year. We have enjoyed them so much in fact, that this is the only variety I plan to grow next year so I can save the seeds.
My garden is not very big, so I don't have room to plant things far enough apart to prevent cross pollination. In years past, we have been big fans of Roma tomatoes because they can so well, so we grow them every year.
Interestingly enough, I don't like tomatoes. Each year I try them and hope to enjoy them, but they are just yucky. This year was different. I actually enjoyed the Arkansas Travelers. Not a large amount at any one time, but they were good. They didn't have that whang like most other tomatoes.
So our perennial experiment will be with our Arkansas Traveler plants. Another reason for this choice is the long history behind this particular cultivar and the reputed acidity of this tomato. If we no longer have the ingredients to acidify tomatoes, which is the common practice today, then I want to grow tomatoes with a higher acidity to increase the potential for healthy canning and not foster botulism.
I started off with seven cuttings from the tops of
some plants. I tried to get strong, vigorous stems without any tomatoes
on them.
I noticed a few aphids on them, so I decided to rinse them off before I brought them in the house.
The kittens were rather fascinated with the watering wand, but couldn't quite bring themselves to bat at the tomato stem that was dancing in the water.
Here is my harvest. It is very interesting to think of harvesting next year's plants this fall. I have high hopes for this technique.
Since there were aphids on the leaves, I decided they all needed another closer inspection before being placed on the shelf. I rinsed them all again in the sink.
Frank reminded me of how effective it is to cut the stems under water. This helps
prevent a small vacuum from forming at the site of the cut. When he
cut these stems under the water, each one released an air bubble. We
then quickly put them in a jar of water.
These plants will spend the winter in a south window. This is where I will be starting some seedlings in late January as well.
Kathi, thanks again for the idea. I just love to learn new, useful things!
Until next time - Fern
For all of you that have been wondering about Brave Cat, she is gone. We have not seen her since Monday. We thank you for your thoughts and prayers on her behalf.
Now. On with the tomato sauce. I have never made tomato sauce. It is another item I wanted to learn how to make and our tomato crop cooperated enough that I can try my hand at it. Since I am back at school teaching, I have much less time to tend, pick and process the garden. Thus, I am making my tomato sauce over a two evening time frame.
Last night I picked the garden and added these newly picked tomatoes to the ones I had waiting in the refrigerator.
So, when I got home this afternoon, I got out my Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, and got started. I thought the recipe was odd.
You start off by quartering 6 tomatoes, put them in a large pot and smash them with a potato masher. The first time I read that, I thought it sounded pretty strange. But, you know what? It works great! That's why it's in the Ball canning book, right? Heat these first
tomatoes to boiling, then continue to
quarter and add more tomatoes, smashing them with the potato masher,
keeping them boiling as you go.
We planted some Arkansas Traveler tomatoes this summer. They got off to a late start since we had several late frosts, but they have produced very well. It's hard to show it in a picture, but they are very meaty, but have more of a regular tomato texture than the Roma's we are growing. Oddly enough, I don't like tomatoes. I have tried for years and until we grew these tomatoes, I just thought they were yucky. These, I will eat and I actually enjoy them.
I ended up with more 'stuff' after I added all of the tomatoes than I thought I would, which is great. The recipe says to boil it for 10 minutes to soften the tomatoes.
Next, we ran everything through a strainer that separates the skins and seeds from the meat and juice of the tomato. This gave me the opportunity to use the strainer attachment for my KitchenAid.
I bought it years ago with the hope that I would be able to make things like tomato sauce and it is really neat to finally be able to do so. But because we had never used this attachment, we had to figure it out before we could actually get started.
Once we got everything put together, and figured out a good setup, we were ready to start.
When we started, we realized that the juice was splashing everywhere as it dribbled down into the bowl, so we elevated it on top of another bowl to get it closer to the strainer.
The mixing bowl did not hold all of the sauce, so we had to pour it into another bowl and keep on straining. I was really surprised at how little waste there was and how much sauce we ended up with.
I knew this would be a busy week with processing produce
from the garden so yesterday we baked a roast. It is from one of the
wethers we butchered last fall. This gave us a quick and easy meal for
supper tonight. While the tomato sauce was boiling, I snapped enough of
the green beans I picked yesterday for a meal and started them cooking.
So when we finished making and cleaning up a big mess straining the
tomatoes, supper was ready.
Then the only things left to do were to feed the goats, chickens, cats and dog and finish up this post. Another good days work finished. We are grateful for each and every day and for the challenges and learning opportunities each day brings. It is because of them that we grow stronger every day. We are blessed.
Until next time - Fern
P.S. Stay tuned for Tomato Sauce, Part 2.
Frank reminded me of how effective it is to cut the stems under water. This helps
prevent a small vacuum from forming at the site of the cut. When he
cut these stems under the water, each one released an air bubble. We
then quickly put them in a jar of water. 
