tomato camping

John and Kristin (two of my new housemates) have weekly a CSA box from Eatwell farms. Yesterday and today, the farm hosted a tomato sauce weekend camp-out extravaganza. The tomatoes were picked for us – heirloom varieties, zebra, and roma. We were overwhelmed by the quantity. This was not an embarrassment; this was nothing less than a mortification of tomatoes.

Some of which were amusingly vulgar:
Fresh basil, rosemary, oregano, and thyme, onions, garlic, sweet and spicy peppers and salt were also on offer.


Did I mention that this event was entirely free for CSA box subscribers (and their guests)? The sauce cooking began. We attacked with more enthusiasm than knowledge, and a great deal of chopping ensued. There was a free Bloody Mary bar churning out generous servings of freshly blended drink.

Eventually, (hours later) we had concocted two sauces (7 jars of one, and 2 of the other), as well as 4 or 5 additional jars of tomatoes in wine and blanched tomatoes, all of which we canned in the pressure cookers provided by the farm. As if that wasn't enough, we were also treated to free all-you-can-drink home-brew: a boc and a porter. My heart belongs to porter. After a dinner of pasta (and guess what, tomato sauce!), we drank more beer around the campfire and roasted marshmallows while two identical eleven-year -old boys lied about which one was called Andrew. We camped in tents on the grass and woke to fresh coffee, scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese and delicious tortillas, as well as fresh nectarines, plums, and figs. Then we picked strawberries.