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Sasha's Altai Harvest!

10/13/2019

3 Comments

 
Picture
Penn and Sasha's Altai in the snow.
I love Sasha.  I wish I could meet him. I've already written Ode's to Sasha - but this year's harvest is just - rock and roll.  The above pic is just about 1/4 of the Sasha Harvest.  I grow Sasha with deep love. Love for the guy - Sasha - who developed and adapted it to the Siberian mountains and love for Bill McDorman for bringing it home to America for the mountain growers. I've grown Sasha's Altai for 28 years. It never disappoints.  It's always delicious, prolific and so juicy. 
I am busy squeezing tomatoes right now to ferment the seeds so I can get them ready for the 2020 growing season. It's joyful work. It's my favorite tomato so even though there are MANY other varieties all over the floor ripening in boxes, bags, trays, on the couch, on the table, under the couch - this is my happy time. 
I asked Mother Earth to give us September to make up for June, (it froze until the 22nd), and many varieties weren't planted until the top of July - Sasha did what it does best - loaded up in a hurry.  Thanks Mother - you gave us September. 
The plants are small, other sellers consider it a determinate but I don't agree.  I call it 'a small indeterminate', as Sasha blooms until frost.  In the greenhouse I can string it up 6-7' tall.  In the open, it grows compact and easy to manage. 
Oh and that flavor!  Mostly I am just making noises when I am taste testing it but I try and manage words like, 'perfectly balanced', 'smear-on-your-face-good', and 'Oooooooo' and 'aaaaaahhhh'.  Did I say juicy?  
I've done three photo shoots with those big, heavy bowls to get the exact right feeling I wanted, to show the world how much I love this tomato. 
Having a harvest like this is jump-up-and-down happiness. I don't always have enough room to grow more than a few plants at a time but this year, Sasha got an entire 5' X 20' Bio-intensive bed with a half-open cover called, "The Sasha Bed."  Yes, I grow Sasha totally in the open as well but the Sasha Bed was built specifically for this tomato.  It's a half-greenhouse film, half-screened cover that does not have to be opened and closed every day in Colorado's intense sun as it breathes and traps warmth for the night.  I only put Siberian tomatoes in it as the screen lets the cold in and they will freeze before other beds. 
Planting Sasha en masse is such a joy!  
I made the call just in time too - the big freeze didn't come right away - but a few small ones did, triggering the Wood Rats to start doing their evil. They like to line their nests with the tomato branches and if there are ripe or unripe tomatoes on them - so be it.  They stole some significant varieties this year and really pissed me off. As soon as I see that, it's time to start pulling them in - ready or not. They all ripen perfectly in the house.
The mice tripped the live traps, ate the peanut butter and escaped, the Wood Rats high-fived them.  They like the tomatoes better anyway.
Today is another wonderful day of squeezing all of my favorite varieties and many new and unusual ones too. I should be out hunting all day every day but I have to balance the harvest. 
Happy Sunday - I hope you are posing with your tomatoes or lining them up and taking 'Tomato Porn' pics like I do.
Enjoy!
Picture
Penn and Sasha
Picture
First fermenting jars of Sasha. Notice the separation in the jar on the left - starting to mold....yippee!
Picture
The Sasha Bed - on the left. The other tomato bed is surrounded with pallets for wind protection with a hail guard over the top.
Picture
The Sasha Bed with one end open. First nips of frost - harvesting underway.
Picture
The Sasha Bed, covers propped open for watering. A rogue Brussels Sprouts grew amongst the tomatoes.
3 Comments
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1/11/2020 11:59:26 pm

If this is the case I can get from the tomato plantation, then I would love to meet Sasha so I can pick up my own tomatoes too! Those are really big and enticing; it is perfect for a tomato lover like me! When you have a farm, all you wish to have is a good harvest and that's all. You want your plants to grow so that you will have something to harvest by the time it's about to harvest. I can see that you really had fun picking the tomatoes that you like!

Reply
Jan
8/28/2021 10:41:48 am

I have been wanting to try this tomato. I live at 8,600 feet in Woodland Park,Co. I have a HOA that inhibits a greenhouse. I grow inside under lights. I see you have tried a couple of dwarf tomatoes. Yes, they are for sure not your average plant. I grow micro dwarf tomatoes. They are amazingly easy to grow and take up little room. Just a suggestion but it
would be interesting to see if they make it outside. They produce many tomatoes per plant. I have tried a coupe of dwarf tomatoes but they grew to be over 4 feet high. The micros are less than 15 inches and are
very easy and quick to grow.

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1/23/2022 09:27:44 pm

This reminds me the time when I used to live with my parents in village. We friends used to go together for harvesting and it was a great fun.

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    Author

    Penn Parmenter is a high altitude gardener, seedswoman and student of the earth.  She is married to Cord Parmenter - an awesome gardener, gorgeous man and a master blacksmith. Together they own and run a sustainable greenhouse design company, Smart Greenhouses LLC and Penn grows seed for her seed business, Miss Penn's Mountain Seeds.  She is a mother of three sons and an outdoorswoman.  Penn forages wild food, hunts big game, fishes, preserves, maintains a huge organic forest garden and occasionally makes dinner.  At home you can find her in her greenhouses as well as in the wilderness - nose to the ground, butt in the air, trying to identify Colorado natives.    

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