Tomato Tomato Tomato

HB has a green thumb.

Actually he doesn't just have a green thumbs, more like green forearms. He's like my jolly green giant--although "jolly" wouldn't be the usual term I would use to describe him. But he LOVES his plants. He comes from a family line of farmers, so it is not a stretch that he enjoys gardening. He started these from little seeds...none of that buying the plant half grown nonsense. That's cheating. And boy have they grown...

There are 16 tomato plants in all I think along with some flowers (in the little pots) and several basil plants which you can't see.

 

Hey little tomato...I'm going to eat you.

It all started with this Topsy Turvy (which I guess makes it 17 tomato plants) which HB got me for Valentine's Day. Sweet, huh? Actually I love this gift. Chocolates make you fat (not saying I hate chocolate). Flowers die (I do LOVE flowers. So don't get the wrong idea here either). I'm all about gifts that create an experience, which this certainly will. Read on.

So, now here we are with 17 tomato plants. And according to my incredibly accurate calculations that means we are going to have like 7 thousand tomatoes from these plants. There is no way we are going to be able to eat them all, even if we do give away some. The thought of letting any of them go to waste makes me shiver a little.

Alas, there is a solution. Canning. I mean it's not the most ingenious idea, but it's definitely an adventurous one. I've been wanting to learn about this for a while since coming up with my million-dollar jams and jellies business idea (more on that to come). So this will be a good excuse to get on it. And thanks to the city of Jacksonville--we've got some good help on our side.

There just so happens to be a Canning Center that is run by the city in partnership with the USDA and University of Florida (Food and Agricultural Sciences). Whhhaaaaa??!? Who knew.

Yeah totally, check out their website. Apparently the center was started back in the '30s to help feed the inmate population of our city, but after WWII, it became a community center to teach about food preservation. Awesome. I'm still surprised that this is a city-funded facility, considering how hard it seems to be these days to get any financial help from the city (I work in a historical city-owned building that the city doesn't pay to upkeep. We do. And we're non-profit. Huh?) Anywho, I've got a couple pretty stoked people wanting to go can some stuffs. Now that I know about this, I am that much closer to becoming that person who grows all their food and scoffs at those who don't. "Well this bruschetta was made from everything in my garden. BAHAHAHAHAHA!" sigh. dreams.