I planted way too many tomato plants this year. And because I planted way too many, they all preformed admirable. I was looking at a harvest of epic proportions—I could make salsa, and sauce, and paste, and juice, and—well what all can you make from tomatoes?
I was almost at the stage of scouring the internet for tomato recipes when the universe decided to have a little fun at my expense. While I was away for my son’s wedding, elk breached my electric fence and partied in and amongst my plants. (Full disclosure: I had unplugged my fence because I was afraid a wind-blown limb might short out my fence and start a fire. Remember fire? When it was so hot and dry we were afraid to shuffle our feet on a shag carpet, lest we spark a blaze that could take out Smokey’s mother? With the absolute deluge we’ve had the past few days it seems far fetched that I unplugged my fence out of safety concerns and not out of my usual “Oh crap. I forgot to plug it back in” forgetfulness, but I swear, this is the case. Safety first.)
Elk being what they are—in this instance, big and insatiable— ate my tomatoes, plants and all. All they left were some green tomatoes, and a couple of red ones with big, old bites out of them. Stupid dang elk.
I had hoped we might get enough of a lingering summer to ripen all the green ones that were left, but such has not been the case. And considering the fire danger we were facing, it’s probably just as well. So just ahead of the downpour I picked all my nearly ripe tomatoes and placed them on newspaper in a cool, dark to ripen. That still left a lot of very green tomatoes—what to do, what to do?
Next week: You’ll never guess...or maybe you will, who knows!
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