The human race hasn’t always gotten along with tomatoes.

In fact, in Europe during the 1500’s, tomatoes killed the rich and fed the poor. Literally.

The reason? The wealthy population ate their food off of pewter plates using pewter flatware. Pewter contains lead. The acid of a tomato would cause the lead in the pewter to leach out into the food, in essence, poisoning the individual who consumed it. The poorer populations didn’t have pewter dishes or utensils. Instead, they ate their food from wooden dishes with a wooden spoon – which saved their lives when it came to consuming tomatoes. As a result, you had part of the population crying out beware the tomato! – While the other part cried out more tomatoes please! It must have been a confusing time to be alive.

Continue reading “A Bit of Saucy Tomato History” →

It’s finally cool today. Plus, we received several inches of rain during the night. Life at the farm has settled back into its usual lightning pace, but without the restraints and challenges that nature put on us last week. The 110-degree heat index pushed us around a little bit, but it didn’t knock us out. What would we do without water, shade and common sense? (And to be completely honest, I confess to standing in the walk-in produce cooler for an extra-long couple of minutes on one of those days. Whatever it takes.)

Occasionally, one of our customers asks us what it’s like to work on the farm. When they ask, we think What temperature is it that day? What are we harvesting? What needs to be planted? When is the next delivery? and a hundred other questions that make up the big answer. But we’ll do our best to give you an answer now that we can catch our breath.

Even better, tag along with us for the journey. As a baseline, let’s assume it’s a mild 82-degree day in mid-July. Start your clock at 6:30 AM.

Continue reading “A Day in the Life at Seeds of Hope Farm” →