Irene

I realize that this is not a timely report but last Sunday's hurricane Irene pulled down power lines, phone lines and the internet which has yet to be restored to Ledge & Gardens. I know the crews are working frantically and since we sustained no permanent damage it is just a reminder how tied we are to the comforts of life in the 21st century. Cell phones do not work in my area either...hard to believe that is true in the densely populated southern New England area. No worries, the EM and I packed up the dogs and headed up to the wilds of Maine. Seboomook Lake is near the more popular Moosehead Lake. I first featured the camp here in a previous post. It is an eight hour drive but at this remote camp there is a generator, gas stove and refrigerator and, believe it or not, a satellite connection. It is not everyone's dream to be so remote but if you have to live off the grid, you are prepared. Not so at home where flush toilets do not flush and showers don't shower without power. The major damage in the yard and gardens was to the tomato crop. I planted lots of heirloom tomatoes, 36 plants which were over six feet tall and still growing. The cages were bending under the burden even without the storm. Now they are lying on the ground. I picked a huge amount of tomatoes just before the storm. Many of them have 'catfacing' on the bottoms. I have learned that 'catfacing' occurs from one of two conditions and usually on the beefsteak type tomatoes. The first condition would be herbicide damage which is not an option for these since they are organic and no herbicides were used at L & G anywhere near tomatoes. The other situation which causes 'catfacing' is cool temperatures occuring at the time of pollination. We had cool temperatures well into July this year. The tomatoes still taste great, they just look a bit funky. I packed many of them for the trip to Maine since canning them was out of the question with no power. I am wondering if I can consume all that I brought with me. Perhaps I will tire of the taste of tomatoes fresh from the garden...almost fresh. Do you evey get tired of garden tomatoes? Stay tuned for the next installment of L & G 'On the Road'. I will be featuring the big tomato crop up here at camp.