The Greatest Tomatoes in the World

Never underestimate the importance of ordinary items that we take for granted.  Take the tomato for example.  Sweet, juicy, red, ripe tomatoes.  A staple in our 21st century lives.  Those of you who grow your own understand the incomparable difference between those that you watch grow up, and the garbage which are picked too soon, force ripened, and falsely sold as "tomatoes" on grocery store shelves.  That is not a tomato, and you'll never truly understand the difference until you have experienced both.

Trav, Greeny, and myself canned tomatoes two nights ago - Trav, Curt, and I canned more last night - and Greeny and I canned even more tonight.  Those tomatoes taste awesome, but that is not the reason why they are the greatest tomatoes in the world.  No, their greatness is much deeper.

For those of you unaware, my father passed away a little over 5 months ago of a sudden heart attack.    Devastating as it was and still is, our loss continually reminds me to slow down, smile, love everyone, and appreciate everything - especially these tomatoes.

There is something very special about these tomatoes.  Yes, one of the varieties grown is a 5 year Heirloom grown on the farm.  And yes another variety was purchased in an alley market on the streets of Pisa, Italy, seeded,  and successfully smuggled across international lines (thanks Pops).  Both great stories, but not as great as the fact that the seeds that would eventually grow into the plants that would eventually grow these tomatoes were indeed started by my father very shortly before he died, and this is why they are the greatest tomatoes in the world.

These tomatoes in a way kept us going as a family.  After a few sad, confusing weeks - the seeds sprouted.  We then took the time to transfer the seedlings into bigger pots.  Then we took turns watering.  It was a tag-team effort to get them to the point of planting and beyond, and as bad as we missed Dad, he was still a part of it.

Now the garden has exploded and is splattered with red and green.  It's tomato picking time and the garden has never looked better.  For reasons that don't need mentioned I will continue to save these seeds as long as I live, and will cherish the time and energy Pops put into teaching me about gardening and preserving.