Windy & Beautiful Sunset

I took this video one very windy evening on Lake Huron. It was invigoratingly beautiful out that night. The sun-setting, and the reflection in the water pools on the beach were spectacular. This truly is one of my favourite places in the world to be. You can hear the wind whipping off the water, but for emphasis I turned the camera on myself to show just how windy it really was. Literally blew my hair back!

here are some still shots as well:

Fall Farming

 I went out to the farm to close it up for the season, and surprisingly found a lot of things still growing! There were still flowers on my pepper plants!

 Beautiful mixed greens

Making Ketchup

 All the delicious spices in the spicy ketcup

 Ketchup thickening up

 Mmm, the final product

Last week, I used the last of my paste tomatoes to make this amazing ketchup

Peach Paste

 Some photos for another new variety i will have available this Spring; peach paste

Relics of the past

As I said in my last post, I am at home visiting my family for the week. While looking for a book to read, I came across these relics from the past of urbantomato. 

 When I first started urbantomato, I was given a grant to help start a small business, it gave me time to develop packaging templates & ideas. These are some of the first templates that I designed, and gave to my family as christmas gifts. I think that they must be from 2005 or 2006?

 I cannot imagine that I used to hand-write each of my packages!!! That would take ages now. I guess I was working at a smaller scale then

 The packages I found were for una heartstock, green grape, chocolate pepper and black russian. Still some of my favourites. Amazing to think of just how many seeds have come from the stock that was put in these packages . . .  thousands upon thousands, and so many fruits! 

 I do like the idea that I had the instructions of how to save your seeds right on the back of the envelopes, maybe I will have to reincorporate that? 

I am gonna look around at home to find my other envelopes through the years, I know that I had many versions, none quite as labour intensive as these, but certainly each took more time than the systems I have in place now. I wonder if ten years from now I will look back at my current packaging & wonder what I was thinking? Ahh, The joy of growth & development! 

family & fall

At home visiting my family, and for once, not spending any time in the garden (while at least not mine) or organizing farmers' markets or community gardens, ahh vacation, and by some crazy amazing coincidence, the weather feels like mid-August!!! Except, the beach is deserted, how amazing.

  so amazingly enough, here are some photos that are not of seeds or vegetables!

   They say that the sunsets here are amongst the best in the world. I agree, I have been lucky enough to spend a lot of time on the shore's of Lake Huron throughout my life, but I never cease to be amazed by the glory and beauty of this place, no matter what the season. 

More photos of new varieties for next season

*Beaver Dam Hot Peppers

Here are some photos that I have been taking of new (to me) varieties of tomatoes. I will be making up some packaging over the winter, and they will be available for sale in February. Will post when packages are made. For now I am swamped in collecting the seeds, preserving the fruit, and of course photographing them all over my house! 

 *Opalka paste tomatoes

* Hot Portugal Peppers

 *Missouri Love Apple Tomatoes