It is hard to believe that last week at this time I was only a few minutes away from giving my second workshop at the Monticello Heritage Harvest Festival. Where has the week gone?  No complaints about the weather, that's for sure. Though not my favorite task, the lawn is now mowed, and I picked a bag of hot peppers for the freezer. I spent some of the week removing some unhappy plants, and will do a bit more today. Here is where things stand:

Side yard garden - the front row indeterminate tomatoes are done and will vacate the premises this afternoon. The pesty rabbit did a number on the beans, and they are mere skeletons; ditto worms on the collards. The rear squash actually look good but lack of sun (the angle is now so low that the garden gets but a few hours each day) and bees (very few honeybees and butterflies this year, sadly) led to a pretty poor squash and cuke yield. All of the rear garden tomatoes in bales are kaput. Essentially the garden is finished and I will be removing all dead plants and weeds in preparation for the thick layer of shredded leaves that will cover it once they start falling.

As far as planting it with greens for the winter, the lack of sun would make this a waste of time, sadly.

Driveway - most of the tomatoes were removed earlier this week, but a few hardy souls remain. I continue to pick from a few dwarfs (Arctic Rose, Sean's Yellow Dwarf, Kelly Green, Jade Beauty and Beryl Beauty fight on), and there are promising green tomatoes on Cherokee chocolate, Stump of the World, Little Lucky, *not* Arkansas Traveler, Matchless and Mortgage Lifter. Yesterday we ate an amazing late season Brandywine. Tomatoes in late September is pretty unprecedented for me.

All of the peppers and eggplant remain, and are thriving and continuing to set fruit - they are therefore receiving regular watering and feeding. We are really going to miss them; I am waiting for the eggplant to fatten up so we can make some breaded slices for freezing.

I do want to plant some pots of winter greens for growing in the driveway; lettuce, collards, kale, spinach, arugula - maybe some beets - so that we can have some home grown salads throughout. The only issue I've experienced with this in past years are digging squirrels!

Happy autumn, everyone!

The Harvest festival formally ended last night, but the vacation didn't quite end for Sue and I until we arrived home a few minutes ago. After a nice relaxing breakfast at the Cottage at Albemarle Ciderworks, we took a peaceful walk through the apple orchard, "borrowing" a few delicious specimens. We packed the car, make our apple purchase, said our goodbyes, and struck off to find some local breweries. 

The two that we tried, Wild Wolf Brewing and Devils Backbone Brewing Company, were very enjoyable. We sampled three brews and had an informative tour at the former, and pints of stout with an amazing lunch at the latter. We will be sure to visit both again when we are back in the Charlottesville area.

And so, with countless pleasant memories swirling in our brains, tired from the long ride but happy to be home to reunite with our four legged friends, we reenter the "real world"....whatever that is!

With many thanks to so many people - all those who attended my tomato workshops, familiar faces and new friends, our lodging hosts and all of my Monticello gardening friends who made us feel so pampered - we find ourselves a bit tired, a bit overwhelmed, and quite a bit humbled. 

We attended a fascinating workshop on Herbal Syrups and Elixirs, given by Heather Wetzel, which included many samples, some of which were made during the class. Some were meant to raise our moods, others to calm us down. I am not sure which one won the battle, but it was a perfect preparation for my talk on the History of Tomatoes in America that followed. We actually squeezed in an impromptu tomato tasting at the end, making good use of the props that I brought along from our garden.

The weather cooperating, we then headed up to the food, music, and demo part of the day, and managed to tour Jefferson's home as well - we'd not done that in years, and it still astounds. After a long walk through the Monticello garden - always inspiring - we headed back for the car, and are now winding down and getting ready for our reentry into the "real world" tomorrow.

As always, I've added just a few pictures that Sue captured from the day.  And no, that is not Sue and I sneaking a bit of shuteye this afternoon - it captures perfectly how we were feeling at the moment, however!

And so, to Tom, Anne, Charlotte, Rock, Chuck, Pat, Eleanor, Peggy, Barry, Susan, Rosiland, Ira, Aaron, Linda, Caryl, Phil, Emily and Joe and countless others - thanks again, so much - we hope to see you again soon.

Today was wonderful. From the cooperative weather (a bit cloudy, comfortably mild) to a late night conversation over a bottle of cider, it just couldn't have been better. A few things learned thus far in the excellent workshops that we've attended:  the "fuzzy pink slipper" test for locating your kitchen garden (thanks to Christine Giovai in her Permaculture workshop)....and "sometimes plants just drop dead" (words of wisdom uttered by Ira Wallace.) I was so gratified to present my tomato workshop to a full house late this afternoon. Following an inspired keynote lecture by Aaron Keefer, Culinary Gardener of the French Laundry restaurant in California, we were off to Montalto for the best grazing meal we've ever had.

The whole day was special and memorable. Here are just a few pics that Sue snapped during my afternoon workshop and the evening dinner. Can you tell that I am fading a bit in that last shot (just before we got back on the bus to the parking lot!)

This is the view from the "back yard" of Montalto. Sue and I attended inspiring gardening talks by Rosiland Creasy and Ira Wallace this afternoon at this wonderful venue. Afterward, we tasted some amazing ciders at the Ablemarle Ciderworks.  We started the day with a morning walk at nearby Walnut Creek Park. So far the weather is cooperating (though today was a bit warm and muggy, tomorrow is supposed to top out in the mid 70s; may not be as lucky on Saturday).

The festival's main events begin tomorrow, with a day of interesting gardening seminars, ending with dinner on Montalto.  I look forward to sharing my tomato stories through my workshops on Friday at 4:30 and Saturday at noon.

Sue and I took a nice drive today north on 86 from Efland, then into Virginia and north on 29, arriving in Charlottesville just a short while ago. We are excited to be attending the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello again this year. We are so pleased to be hosted by Albemarle Ciderworks at The Cottage at Rural Ridge along with some other festival participants. What fun!

Though the festival take place mainly on Friday and Saturday, tomorrow we will attend the Edible Landscaping session given by Rosiland Creasy and Ira Wallace. On Friday I will be talking about Tomatoes for the Southeast, focusing on colors, flavors and stories of varieties that I've accumulated and enjoyed over the years. I will be trying something totally new on Saturday, focusing on the history of the development and improvement of tomatoes in America up until the time hybrids became prevalent, mainly between 1870 and 1950. The new talk gives me an opportunity to share many scans from my old seed catalog collection.

The Friday schedule is here, and Saturday here.

Between talks, Sue and I will be attending a variety of gardening talks and walking the Monticello grounds. I will share some of the things we hear about and learn, and pictures from the days, in a series of blogs to come. Be sure to find me if you attend - we can talk tomatoes!

My editor sent a note this morning seeking a very few tomatoes that we seek better examples for the photography. If any of you have partially ripe (1/4 to 1/2 ripe) of the following that look really good (minimum of cracking, blemishing), please let me know. I would reimburse you for them - and then send them off to my publisher.

Lucky Cross, Lillian's Yellow Heirloom, Nepal, Mortgage Lifter/Halladay, Little Lucky, Dwarf Mr. Snow, 
Dwarf Rosella Purple, Livingston Magnus


If you can come through on any of these, drop me an email at nctomatoman@gmail.com and we can work out how to make it happen.

On the home stretch now!  Thanks so much.