Sunday, August 29, 2010

Home Grown Tomatoes ...and Okra .. and Pears



 
Download RingtoneSend “Homegrown Tomatoes” Ringtone to Cell PhoneDownload Ringtone
Ain't nothin' in the world that I like better
Than bacon & lettuce & homegrown tomatoes.
Up in the mornin', out in the garden

Get you a ripe one, don't get a hard one.

Plant `em in the spring, eat `em in the summer,
All winter with out `em's a culinary bummer.
I forget all about the sweatin' & diggin'
Everytime I go out & pick me a big one.

Homegrown tomatoes, homegrown tomatoes,
What'd life be without homegrown tomatoes?
Only two things that money can't buy:
That's true love & homegrown tomatoes.

You can go out to eat & that's for sure
But it's nothin' a homegrown tomato won't cure;
Put `em in a salad, put `em in a stew,
You can make your very own tomato juice.

Eat `em with eggs, eat `em with gravy,
Eat `em with beans, pinto or navy.
Put `em on the side, put `em in the middle,
Put a homegrown tomato on a hotcake griddle

If I's to change this life I lead,
I'd be Johnny Tomato Seed
`Cause I know what this country needs:
Homegrown tomatoes in every yard you see.

When I die don't bury me
In a box in a cemetery;
Out in the garden would be much better
I could be pushin' up homegrown tomatoes.


 
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24 comments:

Marilyn & Jeff said...

Oh what a fabulous post, I love your collage of all of your vegetable produce. I agree with the words in the song ..there's nothing better than a home grown tomato. We have just put some seeds in our wee plastic house, the start of our tomato season! Can't wait.

Unknown said...

That was fun
Oh you make me look forward to summer and real tasty tomatoes! I must say i've enjoyed hearty Winter fare but as spring is arriving I look forward to salads and lighter food.

Folkways Note Book said...

Vicki -- A great post on homegrown tomatoes. Can't grow enough of those good things!! -- barbara

Martin said...

Nice one, Vicki! We caught Guy Clark at the Cambridge Folk Festival, around ten years ago. Loved this fun video clip.

Subby said...

Wonderful collage, if I may echo. Is tha' red okra?

Pat in east TN said...

I have loved that song for years and although "Mr. Groundhog" is trying his hardest to get more of that delicious fruit from my garden then I am, I'm not giving in or giving up!

Brian Miller said...

nice. it is one fo my favorite parts of summer...tomato sandwiches....yum! nice song...

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

My favorite part of summer is a good tomato sandwich. What a lovely array of vegetables you've grown Vicki.
Sam

Vicki Lane said...

Love hearing from you all in NZ -- just heading into Spring and salads as we turn toward Autumn and soups and stews.

Barbara -- It's the one thing I most appreciate from the garden!

Martin -- that song plays in my head every time I pick one.

Subby -- yep, red okra. Beautiful stuff -- though it turns a not so pretty gray green when you boil it.

Pat -- the wild turkeys have destroyed quite a few. Luckily, Justin and Claui grew a HUGE number of tomatoes and they very kind about sharing, now that they've got well over a hundred quarts canned.

Brian and Sam -- Oh, yes! A good tomato sandwich is the food of gods!

Kaye Wilkinson Barley - Meanderings and Muses said...

I have been eating more than my fair share of BLTs lately. There really isn't much that's any better than a homegrown tomato. People work really hard to make the ones they sell in the grocery stores taste SO much NOT like a real tomato.

Elora said...

Of course, homegrown FRESH tomatoes are sublime, but last night marked (drumroll, here...) the end of the to-mah-to canning season with 95 quarts now in the basement.(Two year's supply.)

Winter fare? Homemade cottage cheese and homegrown (canned) to-mah-toes. I still have chutney and salsa yet to make, but that's an easy 10 pints each. And, thank you for all the words to this wonderful rhyme, Vicki! I think Garrison Keilor had it on his program years ago, but not the entire piece! I love it! It's GREAT!

Elora

Louise said...

Ohhh, that made me hungry.

BB said...

Oh Vicki I loved this post. Brought me right back to being a little girl who worked side by side with her daddy in the garden and would pick those beautiful Jersey Beefstake's right off the vine and eat them on the spot. We would just grin from ear to ear with tomato juice and seeds running down our chins.

NCmountainwoman said...

And this year the tomatoes have been the best ever! Most evenings our dinner salad has been sliced tomatoes and cucumbers. How I will miss them this winter.

Friko said...

So show off your home-grown produce, why don't you.
I have plums, so there!

(My tomatoes are still mainly green and may never ripen now, as the weather is already turning colder)

Merisi said...

Hilarious! ;-)

Good old BLT, with a big fat slice of juicy sun-warmed tomato, that's what I miss. Only tastes the way it should when one is on American soil.

I brought home bushels of tomatoes, right from the farm stand in Italy. Stood in the kitchen most of the day, made tomato sauce, stuffed and baked them and sent my lunch guests home with some of them, to spread the bounty. I love this time of the year!

Kathryn Stripling Byer said...

Hey, Vicki. I've been away from blogging for awhile. Our tomatoes didn't do as well as we hoped, but we have still enjoyed them. Okra better than expected. But what happened to our potatoes? We thought we'd have bushels. Bah. Fried okra tonight, along with beets, and potatoes, all home grown. Oh, and apples. Apple pie. I also canned some apples using your pear mincemeat recipe.

Vicki Lane said...

We had BLTs for lunch today, Kaye. Oh, yum!

Sauce simmering on the stove just now, Elora!

Lovely memory, Barb!

We did have some wonderful cukes, NCMountainwoman -- alas, they've succumbed to something or other.

Friko -- I have no plums, alas. But do you know about fried green tomatoes? Not to be sneezed at...

Hurrah for farm stands and farmers' markets! And lucky Merisi, to be getting her tomatoes in Italy!

Hi, Kay! Results are always mixed here. My peppers look healthy but nary a pepper do I see. We haven't formally dug our potatoes yet -- just grabbled out a mess now and then and I think they;re doing fine. Ah, the continouing mystery of gardening!

Witch of Stitches said...

Great post. As kids we'd go from garden to garden to pick a tomato or whatever else we wanted. Would just sit down and eat right there in he yard. Many tomato juice stained shirts! Nothing like a good tomato!
Love the song too. Did you know John Denver also recorded Homegrown Tomatoes?

jennyfreckles said...

Good post - I didn't know the song but it's fun and goes so well with your pictures. It must be very satisfying to fill your store cupboards with home-grown stuff - something deeply wired into us that so many of us (city dwellers) have lost touch with.

R. Burnett Baker said...

A fun post! I often toast a couple of slices of potato bread and have a tomato sandwich with mustard, ketchup, and Miracle Whip! UmmmUMMM Gud!

People think I'm a half a bubble off.....

Rick

Vicki Lane said...

Sweet heaven, Rick! That's not much short of heresy. Mayo alone, for the love of all that's holy! ;-)

Subby said...

eeeeewwww!!!

Stella Jones said...

I'd agree with that sentiment. They really do taste wonderful, don't they and they smell good too!
Blessings, Star