From Eatwell Farm 2011 Pictures

It is time to prepare for the summer crops. It may be the first week of January but Mike at Headstart Nursery wants our first order  of plants for delivery during the second week of March.

I have five egg coolers full of tomato seed all the way back to when we started growing heirlooms in 1993! Many made it only to the trash but I was hard pressed not to keep others. I must have atleast 500 ziploc bags of seed we saved or bought. I did not save any seed from last year. It was a tomato year best forgotten with the very last spring and summer.

This year is going to be very different and I must admit it was exciting to sort through all the varieties. We have many heirloom cherry tomatoes and plan to expand that planting this year. The larger heirlooms will be reduced slightly to compensate for the reduction in sales at the Framers market. More and more farmers are selling the varieties we grow now. Heirlooms need staking and it costs us in excess of $10,000 per acre to plant and stake. That is before we even harvest one tomato! Many of you have told us that you really like the red slicers that we grow. Jose and the crew take these home in preference to the heirlooms. As they need no staking the cost to produce them is less. We will grow more of these. We pick all our tomaoes ripe and the red slicers suffer far less damage on the way to your kitchen than the heirlooms.

If you have any strong opinions about what we should be putting in your box this coming year please let us know.... Nigel organic@eatwell.com

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