Nothing Better Than Home Grown Vegetables

 

Homemade tomato soup.  Photo by Jerry Apps        

With so much turmoil this year, mostly caused by the COVID virus, many people have turned to home gardening.  Now,  the sweet corn is ready, the cucumbers are just right, the green beans can’t be bested, and the tomatoes are ready for picking and eating.  After several months of store-bought tomatoes grown at some far-distant place, we have fresh tomatoes, picked ripe from our garden.  How juicy they are and how special. 

 I especially enjoy spooning some cottage cheese into a bowl and then topping it with several slices of fresh tomato.  Or sometimes, I slice a couple tomatoes onto a plate, add a goodly amount of pepper and a little salt, and dig in. 

 My wife makes the best tomato juice you could imagine, not heavily laced with salt which is too often the case with store-bought tomato juice.  She cans it in pint jars and at days end, I often bring up a jar from the basement, pour it into a pint water glass—and sit back and enjoy.

 But what is most special of all, is the tomato soup that Ruth makes, many pints that we enjoy all seasons of the year, but especially during the cold, snowy days of winter.  Opening a can of home-made tomato soup is like a taste of summer when there is snow on the ground and the temperature crowds toward zero.  For the recipe, fetch a copy of my book Garden Wisdom from your local library or bookstore, and give the tomato soup recipe a try.  You won’t be disappointed.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS:  Homegrown vegetables, what could be better?

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS AND DVDS.

My books are available at your local bookstore, online from bookshop.org, or from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s. Say hello to Jana and look at their great selection of my books or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414.