Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes.....

Want to share our experience with roasting tomatoes.  We are preserving tomatoes for the first time this way, and we are really enjoying them.  The tomatoes are the Tumbler variety and the picture above is before they went into the oven and the picture below is after they have been roasted.  The process is simply halving the tomatoes and laying them cut side up on a cookie sheet.  Drizzle olive oil over them, and season with salt and pepper.  Place in a 300F oven and roast for 2 hours.  I placed two cookie sheets in the oven together and they roasted up just fine.  They can be frozen or stored in the fridge for a short time.  I guarantee they will not last too long.  They are wonderfully sweet and go great with a tangy cheese, (goat cheese is my favourite) or eaten right out of the oven.

With our next batch of large ripe tomatoes we are going to roast them at 200F for 10-12 hours, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper.  They also can be frozen for future use.

With the unseasonably warm temperatures we are going to do some painting on the house, something we just couldn't find the time to do this summer.  We have been digging out the plant material in the gardens and will let them dry for a little while and then we will shred them and incorporate into the soil along with alfalfa straw.

Last week just before the frost hit we had a group of students from the Saskatoon School of Horticulture visit the farm.   We gave them tours of the gardens and talked a lot about the various flowers we grow and cut for fresh cuts.  We enjoyed having them visit, and hope they will make this an annual trek with next years group of students.

Tomorrow I am going to dig a few peonies roots for sales at the Saskatoon Farmer's Market.  Fall is the best time to transplant perennials that bloom in the Spring.  There will be roots from the white, burgundy and pink peonies.  They will have to be planted within a few days, as I am not potting up the roots.  This way you will get a larger root mass which will in turn be a healthier transplant and they will produce flowers a lot sooner.  We will also have the remaining perennials, that are potted up, at reduced prices along with the succulent sale, buy one get one free.  Vegetables will include tomatoes, green and cooking onions, leeks, and horseradish root.  Dried herbs available are, Basil, Oregano and Catnip.  We have been making dried flower arrangements with the various flowers we have dried throughout the summer.  Those will be available along with golden dried wheat.