Attack of the Heirloom Tomatoes!

11/26/2012

I am overwhelmed in tomatoes. Buckets and buckets and bags and bags everywhere. It's frightening. It's a huge challenge for me. The picture to the left is me posing samples of tomatoes - the load I got off each plant is truly amazing. it makes for a lot of jars - gallons too. The house smells so bad sometimes it makes me feel woozy.
No one has seen me or heard from me - only tales of tomatoes...

Good grief it's a lot of seed!
My family has been amazingly tolerant of this process - and with so many jars at once - it reeks! I'd recommend a seed room. That's what I want - a seed room.
After you squeeze the seeds and gel into a jar, give it three days and wait for the white mold to appear. After that - it is time to add water, mix it all up, let it settle and pour the goo and non-viable seeds off the top - leaving the perfect seeds at the bottom. Repeat until there is nothing but water and clean seed in the bottom, then dump through a sieve and dry them on paper.
When I am rinsing the seed I collect the waste water in a bucket and dump it on the compost pile.

Of course not everyone would be doing this on such a large scale unless they were a seed company so a few jars on the counter won't stink you out of your house. I allowed myself to grow as many varieties of tomatoes as I wanted last season so challenging myself to save seed from every variety seemed the thing to do. I know for sure I won't make 130 - but I might make 125! We'll see.
This mold is nature releasing and purifying the seed - it's a beautiful thing.

Tomato Aficionados - prepare yourselves...

Black From Tula

Persimmon

Black From Tula

Reisetomate

Indigo Rose

White Queen

Indigo Rose

Black From Tula

Bellstar

I shall post more tomato porn so have at it - it's too much sometimes. I am still squeezing, fermenting and rinsing - but am determined to conquer the challenge.
The form and beauty of the plants, flowers, fruit and seed are a great joy in my life.
Photographing them is a bonus - so much fun - they are photogenic to be sure.
I am taking a break from processing to post this - but then it's back in I go.
Enjoy.

Isis Candy

Azoychka

Brandywine

Crimson Sprinter

Opalka

DON'T FORGET - SAVE TOMATO SEEDS!!!!!!! How-To-Instructions

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Penn Parmenter is a high altitude gardener and student of the earth. She is married to Cord Parmenter - an awesome gardener, gorgeous man and a master blacksmith. She is a mother of three boys and an outdoorswoman. Penn forages wild food, hunts big game, fishes, preserves, maintains a huge organic forest garden and occasionally makes dinner.
She has been working on self-publishing her book, "How To Grow Food In The Mountains", in between teaching a slew of mountain food growing classes and raising three boys. At home you can find her in her greenhouse as well as in the wilderness - nose to the ground, butt in the air, trying to identify Colorado natives.