Finishing the Cycle

I made another batch of soap today. I added tomato extract, dried tomato peel and rosemary. I also began my final step of the cycle for the first year of my tomato 'retirement plan'. Starting the seed drying stage in preparation for next planting season. I'm keeping three kinds of seeds: two plum tomatoes, one red and one yellow, and my homesteads. When you save seeds, you are supposed to actually let them ferment (rot). That kills any diseases that may be residing within the tomato. Then you collect the seeds, dry them out and store until next season.

I'm also working on some tomato history as well as some tomato brands from long ago. The biggest tomato shipper in Yoakum back in the 40's was Polagan: the brand of  Albert K. Polis and Carl O. Hagan. I found the label that was on their wooden crates:

Here are the wrappers that were used to wrap the green tomatoes before they were stacked in the crates:

Can you believe that the wrapper above was found in one of the old tomato sheds by the railroad tracks here in Yoakum? Pretty cool, huh?

Scorcher!

Wow it's hot today! Highs in the 100's over the weekend and for the next few days. That's not good for tomato plants. I've been doing a little research and I think I'm going to try trimming back my 'Magnificent Seven', pruning them to see if they can make it through the heat. The other tomato plants I'm going to leave alone and see how they fair without any trimming.

I've never pruned tomato plants before. I've always just let nature take its course. In the research that I've done, I found that pruning tomatoes will take the dying growth off and leave the plant to try to refresh itself grow new branches, bloom and put on more fruit. One website suggested pruning away about a third of each plant. Think I'll try that this evening when it gets cooler........like the lower 90's!

And to Cheryl @ DDR: Yes!! I would love for you to design my packaging! Do you still have my number?

And to Linda H: you are right! I'm drying some rosemary right now to add to my next batch of soap. I love rosemary too

And I'm still looking for emulsifying wax to use to make some tomato lotion. Guess I'm gonna have to order on-line.

Now....I'm going to try making my first batch of homemade tomato paste!  --Stay cool!

Hello from deep in tomato land!

I've really been working through this whole tomato plan of mine. It is coming together more and more. But first things first.

My tomato soap is looking really good. It's supposed to dry for 4 to 6 weeks. It smells really lemony luscious. I can't wait for it to be ready!

Next on my list is tomato lotion. Supposed to be good to close large pores, soothing for rashes, acne and sunburn. Still collecting my ingredients for the lotion. Maybe I can make some tomorrow.

AND-I ordered me a dehydrator! I can use it to dry tomatoes, herbs and so much more.

I just got it the other day. I am drying my first batch of tomatoes now.

Then I'll be ready to try some more soap. I'm also going to make tomato powder. It can be used in sauces, stews, soups etc.

Ok-so here's what I'm thinking. Yoakum's soil and climate is conducive to growing tomatoes. That's one of the things that helped Yoakum grow back in the 30's and 40's. Maybe the tomato industry can be resurrected in this area (and expanded upon) to help boost its ailing economic base.

Yoakum is known for tomatoes, leathergoods, meat processing and, more recently, ranchwear. So why not work with, improve on and branch out from what's already successful or has been successful in the past? The way I see it, all of Yoakum's industries could play off each other quite well.

I'm gonna keep stewin' on it.... see you soon!

Ok-so now I have tomatoes everywhere

So, I've been looking for recipes for tomatoes, and come up with quite a few. Have you ever heard of tomato pie? Not me. But I'm gonna try it. I'm also going to check out Homemade catsup, BBQ sauce, tomato paste, and tomato jelly. But tomatoes don't just taste good.

Tomatoes have lycopene in them which is very good for you. It is said to lower blood pressure, can help reduce blood LDL cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol). At a recent conference, researchers presented findings on lycopene's potential protection against male infertility, osteoporosis, skin cancer, varicose vein removal , eye disease, prostate, breast and endometrial cancers. Wow!

In raw tomatoes however, lycopene is tightly bound to indigestible fiber. So eating raw tomatoes provides relatively small amounts of  lycopene.The best food sources of lycopene according to the Tomato Research Council in New York City: ( Amount of lycopene in one ounce) Tomato Sauce, Spaghetti Sauce, Ketchup (5 mg); Tomato Soup, Canned Tomatoes, Tomato Juice, Vegetable Juice (3 mg); Minestrone Soup, Vegetable Soup, Pink Grapefruit (1 mg). But that's not all.

In addition, lycopene is good for the skin.  It is good for oily, acne prone skin. It is an anti-inflammatory with  a gentle exfoliating effect. Heck, it's even supposed to have anti-aging effects!  (I'm not making this stuff up...I promise!)

So, in addition to tomato food products, I'm going to make tomato face products. Woohoo!

Today, I made my first batch homemade tomato soap.

I have never made soap before. It's actually quite amazing. You make it basically with oils and lye. Yup-the stuff you can use to unclog your sink. I know my grandmothers used to make lye soap. They used it to clean clothes. You have to mix the lye with water and it gets hot.

In the mean time you heat your oils.

 Once they're at the right temperature, you mix them. And mix and mix til it gets the right consistency.

It's called 'trace' in homemade soap talk.

Now it's ready to turn into tomato soap. The other day I dried a bunch of tomatoes. (I forgot to take pics). Today I ground them into a very coarse powder like this:

I added them to the soap. Along with a scent and tea tree oil (also good for the skin). Then I poured it into the mold.

Tomorrow it's supposed to be ready to un-mold and cut into bars. Then it has to dry for a few weeks. If any of you want to purchase a bar from the maiden voyage of Tomato Shed soap-making, let me know. But don't worry, I'll try it out on myself first.

Tootles!

History..... Part II

After a recent visit to Fredericksburg, I started wondering why that town is thriving and my hometown (Yoakum-which has many positive attributes) is definitely not thriving. After realizing that Fredericksburg seemed to capitalize on what it does best in the hill country climate of Texas, I did a little research. I knew Yoakum used to be known for tomatoes. I started asking questions of my parents and people of that generation, wanting them to tell me more about when Yoakum was a more thriving town, and why Yoakum had stopped producing tomatoes.

 I was surprised to find that quite a few people either in my family or friends of my family grew tomatoes during that time. Turns out that after a bad drought in the area in the ‘20’s, the chamber of commerce searched for a cash crop that would be successful in the area and settled on tomatoes. Because refrigerated cars had just been invented, the tomatoes could be shipped on the railroad that ran through Yoakum. The best reason I can find in my research that tomatoes stopped being a crop in this area is competition at the time, and the rise of the leather industry in Yoakum. Hmmm…..not that the climate changed, or that to soil was found unfavorable, I think residents just sort of moved from one crop to another-which would be cattle.

So I started thinking……And decided that I’m going into the tomato business!!

The climate is right, the cost is minimal and Yoakum needs me!  J

So, I started doing some research. I asked my family about methods of raising heirloom tomatoes. Unlike hybrid tomatoes that cannot be grown from saved seed, heirloom tomatoes can grow from their own seed year after year. I set my goal for the first year of going from seed to seed. In other words, grow plants from seeds in a hotbed, set them out in the garden when they are big enough, raise tomatoes, and learn how to dry the seeds to save and plant again next year.

I ordered 100 seeds and planted in a hotbed (see first picture in first post) at the end of last year. Seven plants grew. Seven. Only seven. That’s okay. My goal can still be reached. As long as I could grow the seven plants into bushes that would produce enough tomatoes to save seed, I’m still on track.

Well, as you can see from a previous post, I’ve surpassed my goal. I have not however, saved seed yet. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned!

A little history...

 ...on why I've gotten into this tomato thing:

Back a couple of years ago, I took a trip with a couple of friends to a festival in Fredericksburg TX. The festival included interesting booths, friendly people and lots of fun. We spent the night in Fredericksburg, and spent the next day snooping around the quaint little shops everywhere in town. There were lots of visitors, and everyone seemed to be really enjoying their visit.

The visit got me thinking about the small town where I was born and reared. Where Fredericksburg is booming with lots of entrepreneurs and pride in the community, my town is sort of drying up. There are many empty buildings downtown, most young adults tend to move away, and there is a feeling of giving up.

Why? Why is Fredericksburg growing and thriving when our little town is shrinking and dying? Yes, Fredericksburg is in the Texas hill country which is beautiful. But we have rolling hills with oak and pecan trees. We are in the middle between Austin, San Antonio and Houston.

What did Fredericksburg do that we didn’t? What are they doing that we’re not?

After returning home, I spent a lot of time thinking about my question. One thing I realized is that Fredericksburg has always been known for their peaches. They still are. They are capitalizing on what they do best. They sell peaches, peach products, stores have peach names, and more. Other businesses have branched from there. They capitalize on what they do best. Hmmm….

Can’t we do that? What do we do best?

I started asking questions….

Not much of a blogger....

Haven't posted in quite some time. I guess I'm just too busy living life to spend much time talking about it???

Well, my little plants grew.  I only had 7 plants grow from my Homestead seeds. But-I considered it a success that I actually grew tomato plants from seeds. I transplanted them into the big garden in March. Put tomato cages around them in preparation for virulent growth. I call them

The Magnificent Seven

Now here it is June and Look!!

I pick about this many every other day! The ones in front are from my Homestead heirloom seeds. The smaller ones in the back are from some other seeds that Tomato Bob sent me. The smaller ones grow in bunches like this:

Needless to say, I have A BUNCH of tomatoes! I'll tell you what I'm doing with them in my next post. Which - I promise - won't be months in coming!!

In the beginning......

.....there were seeds.

 Homestead tomato seeds. The plan is to grow heirloom tomatoes.

The winter's been wet and gloomy.

Good rain, but not much sun.

 About  seven weeks later, we have some little plants.

Tomato crop here I come!!