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Hi,
We are now deep into the tomato season. Last week we started picking and selling canning tomatoes. This was sooner than I thought. By the way, BackHome magazine has printed my article in their September/October issue on canning tomatoes. This magazine should be available at local stores such as Tractor Supply, Family Farm and Home and others. The article is titled "Give your tomatoes the litmus test before canning." If you use the hot water bath when canning, it is important to be sure the tomatoes are acid enough. Any tomatoes with a pH below 4.5 are acid enough for canning with a hot water bath. We are making available at our market free pH test strips to anyone who purchases canning tomatoes from us, otherwise they are 25 cents each. These strips are easy to use and free instructions are given by the sales help.
Right now we are selling canning tomatoes the same as last year -- $10 a half bushel or $18 a bushel (two halves). If we decide to raise the price due to possible weather problems (too much rain, disease, hail, unusual frost, etc.) print out this newsletter and show it to us and we guarantee the price as long as we have a supply to sell.
As most of you know, we grow heirloom tomatoes in addition to standard tomatoes, little red tomatoes, SunSugar cherry tomatoes and Roma/San Marzano paste tomatoes. This year we planted the following varieties of heirlooms: Black Prince, Mortgage Lifter, Persimmon, Carolina Gold, Paul Robeson, Cherokee Purple, Lemon Boy, Green Zebra, German Pink, Pink Beauty and Big Boy. I know some of you might question us including Big Boy as an heirloom but we feel it is an old enough tomato-it was first developed in 1949 and it sure is famous. In the 50's and 60's this tomato was the most widely planted tomato in Michigan. It does have the good old fashioned flavor that many of the newer varieties are missing. However, it is prone to splitting and can't compete economically with many of the newer varieties.
We have learned a lot growing heirloom tomatoes these past years. For instance, we have eliminated some varieties we didn't like and we learned that you can pick them just as they are turning and ripen them off the vine and they are almost as good as vine ripened. This isn't true with the new tomatoes. The new tomatoes must be almost completely red in order to taste good. This is a great help since 90% of the heirlooms will crack if you leave them on the vine until they are eating ripe.
We are starting to pick watermelons and by the end of the week we should have a good supply. We also will probably be picking our seedless melons this week, although we just made a test planting. We think we will start picking our redhaven peaches this week, although next week will be the week for buying in quantity. In addition to redhavens, we have some Raritan Rose white peaches which are bursting with flavor. We also are picking Viking apples. In addition, we have a few nectarines which we will be selling in sample quantities. Zestar apples should be ready soon. We also will start picking the next patch of Mirai corn, and we have several other patches of Mirai corn coming on soon.
The following are other crops we grow which should be available this week: muskmelon, green beans, zucchini, summer squash, slicing and pickling cucumbers, red and Yukon Gold potatoes, peppers, Sweet Spanish onions, carrots with tops, dill, eggplant, beets and cut sunflowers.
Nashle,
Tom
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