Last spring, in the middle of Michigan’s stay-at-home order, I had a mild panic attack thinking I might not be able to purchase started tomato plants at the local garden center. In response to my concern I illicitly slipped into the off-limits gardening aisle at Meijer’s and purchased a packet of Burpee’s Long Keeper tomato seeds in the event nurseries and garden centers would either be closed due to the COVID pandemic, or, if open, have a limited selection of plants to choose from.
It turned out to be the latter, and while I was able to make my usual purchase of 16 Early Girl tomatoes and a few other varieties, plant selection proved to be rather limited. Meanwhile, back in early spring lockdown land I had planted a dozen pots of Long Keeper seeds and nurtured them in our sunny bay window until outdoor conditions were favorable in late May to set out all of my tomatoes — both started from seed and purchased plants.
I soon realized in my zeal to guarantee fresh tomatoes come August I had planted way too many of the sun-ripened juicy orbs of fruity (you are aware tomatoes are considered a fruit, not a vegetable, right?) goodness. Well I certainly wasn’t going to pull up the plants I had just surrounded with finished compost and a handful of organic fertilizer was I?
Nope. I weeded and nourished and pampered those three dozen tomato plants through the months of June and July and was rewarded with my first plump vine-ripened tomato in early August. It was followed by another and another and so on and so on. I made a batch of salsa with some of my tomatoes and then made two more with my youngest daughter, who for the past two years had helped me make homemade spaghetti sauce which we then shared for use during the long winter months.
Seeing that there were still a lot of green and partially ripened tomatoes to be had in September I came up with the idea to include my oldest daughter and then my son in this year’s spaghetti sauce making venture. They were agreeable to the idea and so as half bushels of the shiny red fruits ripened I stowed them away in the freezer for the day they could be turned into saucy goodness.
Because of COVID, our annual fall family get-together in October, when we would normally attend the Gaylord Elk’s pumpkin patch giveaway, was not in the cards for this family of 11; including three grandchildren — two of which were booked solid through the month with soccer games. We decided to move sauce making to my eldest daughter’s house near Midland and soccer, and to do our own pumpkin patch with those harvested from my garden.
The weekend in question proved to be remarkably conducive to sauce making and fall harvesting fun. Weather wise you couldn’t ask for better back-to-back days and fall color for a get-together.
Everyone pitched in chopping thawed and recently ripened tomatoes, along with onions and green peppers from the garden; adding herbs and garlic and olive oil to the mixture which was then ladled into a half dozen crock pots and a huge stovetop pot to cook and simmer and bubble for hours on end until ready for canning in my trusty pressure cooker.
By my reckoning we had transformed a bunch of tomatoes and other vegetables from the garden into eight gallons of homemade spaghetti sauce. We of course made much more than a boatload of sauce that weekend. We made a boatload of memories to last a lifetime.
It was a weekend as simple as that.
November 13, 2020 at 08:00PM
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OPINION: Micheal Jones — Turning too many tomatoes into spaghetti sauce memories - Gaylord Herald Times
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