This will probably be the last week we have figs. sigh. Oh well there's plenty going on at Waterberry right now. The Kieffer pears are just beginning. Kieffer pears are old pear variety that grows everywhere here in the Southeastern U.S. It's a very hard pear that is best picked green and allowed to ripen after picked. Although these pears aren't good to just eat, they are great canned. Because they are a hard pear they make wonderful preserves and pies. This week, for market, we used our pears to make Pear, Pineapple,and Apricot preserves. Stop by our booth at the 84 west Farmers Market to pick up a jar. Get there early and you just might get one of the last pints of our figs! We'll also have pesto and sun-dried tomatoes. Of course we'll have plenty of our hydroponically grown butterhead lettuce. See you at the market!

Summer perfection

So I can see that great minds think alike, with summer in full swing and tomatoes at their peak I can't think of a better lunch than a tomato sandwich. Although I do like the classic tomato and mayo my all time favorite has an Italian twist.
Start with a nice hunk of sourdough, next add some fresh pesto, then fresh mozzarella, top with garden fresh tomatoes some fresh ground black pepper and sea salt finish with a drizzle of balsamic. Enjoy all the summer flavors at their best.

You say tomato, I say... summer!

Summertime, summertime, sum, sum, summertime... Warning: A really good ripe tomato may make you want to break out into song. What could be more summery and delicious than a red ripe juicy tomato? This year, dad planted a heirloom variety of tomatoes in the hydroponic system. Wow, the taste is amazing. They taste and smell like, well, a tomato! The heirloom varieties are not high bred to produce a uniform size and shape. So they often look less than perfect than grocery store tomatoes but taste so much better. The variety, combined with the fact that the tomato is allowed to ripen on the vine, is what we think make our tomatoes so tasty! (And of course, no herbicides or pesticides were used on these babies.)

They taste so good, in fact, that I prefer to just slice them, and put them on bread with some mayo and maybe just a sprinkle of sea salt. Nothing fancy but one of the best things you'll ever eat! You can taste the hot summer sun in every juicy delicious bite!