I haven't had very many tomatoes in a couple years because of all the rain we had the last two summers. At least in a drought year, I can water, which I did! I was gonna have a decent crop!
At least all the goats are ok. Now I can kill them.
I carried the camera around this afternoon and got a bunch of pics....but forgot to get one of the flattened tomato garden. Tomorrow. I took one of its lushness a few days ago to post, ironically. OK, enough whining.
Tonight we had a scrumptuous batch of George soup with plogues. Leftovers from the three roos I cooked in the Dutch oven last week, then picked the frames and made broth.
Plogues or ployes are a type of buckwheat pancake made by those of Acadian descent. My Memere made them by the hundreds to feed her family of 11 hungry farming kids, and I loved her fluffy yellow melt-in-your-mouth soaked-in-butter pancakes served with every meal as the bread. They also served as dessert with a drizzle of blackstrap molasses. Cretons, head cheese, was also served rolled up in a ploye. Oh, yes, you must roll them up. It is tradition!
It is made with buckwheat flour, wheat flour, and baking powder. Add enough water to make a thin batter. Let stand five minutes. Cook on one side only on a very hot griddle, stacking on a plate and cover with a clean towel to keep them warm. You need to discard the first one or two, as they never come out right.
First one:
Third one looks much better, more bubbles:
Resist the urge to flip them!
Perfection! Should be slightly browned on the bottom, and sorta crispy.
And the soup was made with, as stated, the three Georges, along with:
Homemade sea salt, as this soup was special!
Rosemary
Lots of scallions
Garlic
Carrots
Green beans
Swiss chard leaves and stems
Ready!
Please? Pretty please? Pretty please with sugar on top?
Notice the bucket of produce. That is what I salvaged from the tomato garden. I'm gonna ripen them up another day or so and make some fermented salsa and maybe some ketchup, and some fried green tomatoes. I also will chop and feed the few mangled mangels to Mya, since, although she was VERY NAUGHTY, she is still providing me with delicious milk.
" I had stopped to chat with the farmer next door a few days ago, and somehow the conversation ended up at 9/11 and Ground Zero. I told him the story of how I met John Randall and his famous search-and-rescue dog, Gunner, and gave Gunner a massage at Ground Zero. Then I came home and got my first puppy ever and named him Gunnar....I was walking Gunnar for his knee surgery rehab when we had this conversation.
Something shifted in the farmer's attitude towards me....we were always friendly, but something changed. He offered to throw leftover corn and squash and pumpkins into my pig pasture instead of his woods, by the bucketful. He said I could glean any of his fields. He approached me and said he wasn't selling the raspberries fast enough and I could pick them out if I wanted. "
Karma can be a good thing for nice people. Maybe he wanted to reward you for all the help you did there. Or ... maybe he's about to tell you about his bum shoulder. Either way, it's great to have helpful neighbors.
Sorry about all the tomato plants. Maybe some will survive. I've seen a tomato bush make good fruit, after it should have died twice before. I'm not bragging- it was dumb luck- not gardening skill.
Here it would be 55 for the same thing, same dog. Clippers at my store are a hundred, so if you don't mind an unprofessional job, its worth it to do at home! But I take my lab to the groomers, he loves it and comes back with cute bandanas.