02 January 2021

2021 Sabbath Wanderings, Sabbath #1. The Marah Pitstop, Why the Children of Israel had to Drink Bitter Water

For all of 2020 I had been praying for Yahweh to show me/us "a way through". He has done so in many ways, but there is so much more to be revealed, so I have been keeping my ears open. Today is Shabbat, a day where I have the quiet and peace to fine tune my spirit to Yahweh's voice. I know everyone hears from God in different ways, but for me, His voice takes on different characteristics depending on what He is saying to me. His Abba voice, (The Parent) can be loving and gentle, encouraging, edifying and patient. But His Parent voice can also take on the tenor of "the correction mode", firm, serious and strong, demanding accountability and encouraging Teshuva (the act of stopping what we are doing, turning around and returning to His Instruction). Still there are other voices: The Teacher, The Creator, The Scientist, The Healer, The Protector, The Prompter, The Humorist and more. I guess over time, my Sabbath Wanderings could explore all His voices, but for today I will talk about the voice that wakes me up in the middle of the Night... The Teacher. The Teacher's voice speaks a word or a phrase to get my attention and then over the following days fills in the rest of the lesson.

 Earlier this week I was woken in the hours before daybreak, by this phrase, "The bitter waters of Marah." Recognizing that The Teacher was speaking, I wrote the phrase down and went back to sleep because history has taught me that it will take awhile for the rest of the lesson to percolate. I knew the story of the Bitter Waters of Marah was from Exodus, so I looked it up. The reference comes from Exodus 15:23-27. While I was waiting for "the rest of the story" to come, I looked up on the internet as many references to Marah's waters as I could find. Most of them talked about bitterness and complaining and how Marah was a lesson in obedience. Hmmm. Not the vibe I was getting. I was sure that there was a deeper understanding that that Yahweh wanted to reveal. 

I was so excited!! Understanding why, has always been tantamount to me. I believe in faith, but I also believe in doing due diligence and asking for understanding, so that I have a firm foundation to build on for times when I must go on faith alone. Over my lifetime, The Teacher has opened up worlds of understanding for me and I have learned from experience that His scriptures are part of a cohesive whole, an intricately designed plan which he has laid out for us to understand

Being a homeschool mom for 17 years, I know that lessons are best learned when a student is part of the process. Research, exploration, and questioning lead to doors of understanding opening and themes coming into focus. I won't bore you with all my thread pulling and research, but some explanation is necessary in order to see how a phrase in the night turned into an "Oh wow" revelation. 

My first question was "OK, Why Marah? Marah's waters were bitter, why is that important?" I tried to find the modern day Marah on a map, but of course it wasn't going to be that easy.  There is no map with x marks the spot for Marah. So I then looked for a map of the area that Moses and the Children of Israel traveled in the Exodus. There are several, I settled on one particular map, because of previous research I did on another topic (also very "Oh wow" but that is a story for another day). 



Then I looked at information about this area on a modern day map and read up on the kinds of water sources in the area. There are bodies of water, much like the Dead Sea, that are high in saline content and other mineral deposits, since in antiquity this was all under the ocean. As time passed land rose up around the area and trapped the saline rich water inland, fresh water springs kept the area from drying up, but the body of water was virtually undrinkable. So somewhere a 3 day journey from the crossing of the Red Sea, lay one of these salt laden inland bodies of water, that the Children of Israel called Marah, which means bitter. 

My next question was, "but why stop at Marah if the water was undrinkable? Why not just produce water in a miraculous way as was done later?"  Oh...there is a very good reason coming!! I could feel The Teacher guiding me through to find my next clues and then come to my "Oh wow" moment.  So I asked, "what makes water taste bitter?" The answer is, when water is bitter, it is usually because there is a combination of some or all of these ingredients: sodium, magnesium, calcium, magnesium sulfate and sodium sulfate. So what in this combination of ingredients is important to my quest? "Uh, wait... isn't magnesium sulfate another name for epsom salts?" Yes! It is! Epsom salts, are what is used for soaking sore feet, feeding tomato plants and as a gentle laxative. DING! DING! DING!! The clouds in my understanding started to part and light was shining down on the answer to my first question, "Why was drinking Marah's water important?"

The Children of Israel had just lived in a land filled with pestilence and plague. Even though most of them were in Goshen where they were shielded from the worst of the plagues, many were in service to Egyptian households outside of Goshen. God knew that they would carry bacteria with them from Egypt that could start widespread illness in their close quarter living conditions. This would make it necessary to have a detoxification pitstop at Marah! The combination of minerals in the water would make a laxative strong enough to purge them of the pestilence and plagues of Egypt. They had basically been preparing their bodies for a cleanse since the crossing of the Red Sea, having consumed their food supplies and drinking water and having fasted while they traveled the 3 days to Marah. So at Marah the detox process could be completed.

 So here is where God the Master Scientist/Healer comes into play: He designed our body to fight off illness by having immune response supported by detoxification done by the liver. Bitter things that we consume can be purgative, but they can also stimulate the production of bile which aids in digestion and detoxification. Bile also breaks down fats so that it can facilitate the absorption of fat soluble vitamins, like vitamin D. Vitamin D is essential to the body to protect it against bacterial and viral attack. So Marah was all about detoxing the Children of Israel to cleanse them from bacteria that could cause an epidemic. This was my first "Oh wow", but there was another coming...

 I feel like this would be a good place to say "to be continued..." , but what I am getting to next is really important to our present situation with Covid-19.  So please bear with me as I get to the other "oh wow" and close with a few modern day observations (or make a note to come back and read the rest soon).

According to Exodus 15, the water was too bitter to drink, so God told Moses to throw wood from a certain tree into the water, which made it sweet enough to drink. So here is my next question: "why throw a tree into the water?" "What kind of tree could sweeten the water and make it drinkable?" This question had an easier answer because we lived in Costa Rica and I am aware of the cleansing and medicinal properties of  the Moringa oleifera tree. So I looked it up and found that this tree has many species that are found around the world in sub tropical climates. In the area around the Red Sea the moringa tree is quite prolific. So more light was shed on the answer to my questions. Most likely, the tree used to sweeten, disinfect and cleanse the water was the Moringa oleifera.


  This tree is famous for its ability to clear murky water and turn low, medium and high turbidity water into drinkable tap water in a couple of hours. Just a few crushed seeds can bond with particles and contaminates and cause it to settle to the bottom, then the clear, sanitized water can be poured off and consumed. The bark, roots, fruits and seeds can also be used to desalinate ocean water. 


 Marah would have been both murky and high in saline as well as having high quantities of other minerals that made it undrinkable. But with the help of the antibacterial, desalinating and cleansing properties of the moringa tree, the waters of Marah were sweetened, but still had the detoxing properties for a whole congregation cleansing.

Not only was it probably the moringa tree that used to sweeten the water, but it would have also helped fill the Hungry Gap until the time God sent the quail and Manna. Almost every part of the Moringa tree is useful. The leaves are similar to spinach in nutritive value. A serving of Moringa has 4x the calcium of a serving of milk, 7x the vit. C of an oranges, and 4x the Vit. A of carrots. Since green leafy foods have phyto- protein, even some amount of protein would be provided.

So my final questions to Yahweh The Teacher, are: "Why did you wake me up to tell me about Marah? What am I supposed to do with what I have learned?" I believe the answer is multifaceted, first of all it what I learned is pretty cool and it is always a good thing to get a deeper look at scripture and share what is learned. But why also revolves around the Covid-19 pandemic, our vulnerabilities to the virus and the shockingly prevalent negative attitude towards science and common sense health precautions that is costing precious lives. 

It is important to know how to take care of ourselves and to maintain our health. In the first 5 books of the Bible many, many principles are laid out for how to do just that. But for this moment in time I will talk about more general health information. Facing the pandemic can be less threatening if a few basic health principle are followed, to start with a good diet, exercise, rest and plenty of water will help the body to maintain good health. Then as with Marah, it is important to get bitter, foods into our diet to stimulate bile production and the assimilation of the Vit. D so vital to fighting off the virus. Some easy to obtain bitter foods like green leafies; kale, collards, swiss chard, dandelion greens, arugula and other bile inducing foods like eggplant and turmeric. These can be added to the daily diet to give us a better chance at remaining well. Also a periodic fast and cleanse to detox the body is a prudent thing to do during a pandemic.  
Next, I will say this plainly because I know no other way to put it, God is the creator of science. He set the boundaries of all created things and put them in motion within the framework of science. To "ignore the science" as is so often coined in the news these days, is to scoff at the principles that God Himself put spoke into existence. We do so at our own peril. The natural consequences of ignoring scientific fact, common sense and human decency, is to become infected with Covid and become ill, or to be an unaffected vector and give it to others; maybe to a loved one, maybe to a stranger, but the cost to them is high in any case. It seems that the bitter taste of our present need to protect ourselves and others is leading to complaining and  resistance and non-compliance with basic health practices. God didn't ask the Children of Israel if they wanted to go to Marah, He took them there for their own good and then sweetened the water to help them drink it.  Really, our present requirements do not need a lot of sweetening. How bitter is it to wear a mask, stay away from crowds, wash hands, and if you have to be around others keep your distance? Can you imagine what would have happened if the Children of Israel had refused to drink the sweetened water at Marah? I imagine it would look very similar to what is happening today.

Thank you for accompanying me on my Sabbath Wandering! Some days it is a walk around Heart's Ease Cottage with my camera, other times it is following a scriptural trail together, but whatever we are doing I am glad we are doing it together! I am of course happy to hear what you think, so feel free to share your thoughts and inspiration. Have a blessed day!

 


22 August 2019

Some Like it Hot, A Love Affair with Hot Peppers

I have had a life long love affair with spicy food. Not just spicy, but but the kind of spicy that could peel paint. I have to have an impartial taste tester (read Still Waters my husband) to verify that what I prepared for a dinner party isn't going to set someone on fire... Since what I think is mild, would be agony to those who are uninitiated.

For many years, about the only "hot" pepper you could find in the grocery store were very sad, slightly shriveled jalapeno peppers. So I had to grow my own peppers to get the burn I wanted in my spicy dishes. Although it has been too long ago to remember, my passion for fiery peppers may be the reason that I began to garden in the first place... But in 2019 it is possible to find a variety of hot peppers in higher end grocery stores and there are a number of ethnic markets who cater to cultures where spicy food is a way of life, so don't despair if you can't grow your own peppers to meet your needs. If to look around you will probably find a local source of fresh hot peppers!

In my garden I have two 3 ft. by 25 ft. beds of peppers. One bed is filled with a variety of sweet bell peppers in an array of beautiful colors ranging from yellow to deep purple, along with some banana peppers, paprika peppers and pepperoncini. The other bed is filled with  "Hurts So Good Peppers" that I cautiously pick while wearing nitrile gloves. In this bed I have a spectrum of hot peppers, jalapenos, serrano, Thai bird chiles, cayenne, habanero, and ghost peppers. Next year I will add Carolina Reapers to the line up, since I waited too late to order and I couldn't get my hands on seed this past spring.

I think this Ghost Pepper just looks spicy...

So how do I use all these hot peppers? Well, there are many ways to prepare these bad boys for use in cooking. Fresh peppers don't have a long shelf life, so I chop and freeze them for a just picked taste to add to raw salsas and other dishes where fresh is best. I make a cooked Habanero Mango Salsa when mangoes are in season and the India market has a good price on them. This salsa is good for knocking the chill off when the weather goes cold. It is delicious with chips, but also adds delightful personality to a humble bowl of black beans and rice.

I have to make this salsa in bulk. It is a household favorite
and we burn through a lot of it

Some of the peppers lend themselves well to drying, but to keep my dehydrator from infusing pepper oils on my dried apples and other dehydrated foods, I never put hot peppers in my dehydrator: instead I use my Stack!t , if the Stack!t is full of drying herbs, I lay them out on screens in the shade to air dry when weather is fine. I often string cayenne peppers on threads with a needle on one end, that hangs in the kitchen where I can add them to the string as I bring them in from the garden day by day.

I keep a thread and tapestry needle hanging in the kitchen
to string on excess cayenne peppers to dry.


I waited too long to order my Carolina Reaper seeds this year,
but not to worry, my son generously shared some of his stash of his with me!


 I smoke many of the peppers and freeze them on trays then put them in doubled freezer bags. These can be taken out one at a time to use in cooking. I also combine these with other peppers that have spent 3 months fermenting, to make a "curl your hair" hot sauce. This sauce is sublime with high notes of orange peel and the deep rich flavors of hickory, mesquite  and cacao. I also ferment the Thai bird chiles whole to use in Thai food or to add some heat to my raw, fermented, mixed vegetable Chow Chow.

I smoke habanero peppers and freeze them on a tray
to keep them separate, then package in small freezer bags.


Some peppers have a great taste, but can over power the flavor of a dish with their heat. To have the greatest control over their contribution to a dish, I tincture these peppers in grain alcohol for a month or so. When they have infused their essence into the alcohol, I strain and bottle the tincture. I wear a mask, safety goggles and heavy chemical grade rubber gloves for this process, since even vapors can burn soft tissues and you definitely don't want to accidentally get any on your skin! I bottle this tincture in amber bottle (recycled beer bottle work great!) and cap it with a crimp style bottle capper. This tincture will last forever. For use in the kitchen, I have a 2 oz. amber dropper bottle that I keep with my spices so that I can add a drop or 2 to a pot of chili, Indian food or other dish that calls for some real heat and authentic ethnic flavor.

I tincture Habanero, Ghost and Carolina Reaper Peppers in
190 proof grain alcohol to  use drop by drop in cooking.

Extreme care should be used when decanting this tincture.
 It could injure eyes and soft tissue, and you would experience
 an uncomfortable burning sensation for hours if you get it on the skin.
 Use safety glasses, heavy gloves and a face mask when
pouring the tincture off into bottles. But don't let that put you off...
the results are worth the caution you need to take!


The use of hot peppers has benefits beyond taste and an endorphen induced sense of well being, they can be used medicinally as well. The capsaicin, a constituent of all hot peppers, has many medicinal purposes. Most commonly, the cayenne pepper is used for skin applications, since it is less likely to be irritating to the skin. Cayenne capsaicin is used topically to treat Psoriasis and to reduce the pain of are muscles, R. arthritis, O.arthritis and Fibromyalgia. Capsaicin can reduce the incidence of cluster headaches, and help ease the pain during an episode. Scientific studies show undeniable evidence that capsaicin is effective in the treatment of cancerous tumors and aids in the apoptosis of cancerous cells, which would prevent cancer from occurring in the first place. It also causes an increase in metabolism which is helpful in weight loss efforts.

My passion for spicy food and my desire to use the peppers for medicinal purposes has led me to find many ways to preserve and use hot peppers. I hope that this post will inspire you to give hot peppers a chance or to try some new ways to use them!

 I love comments and would be happy to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment!

*As a note of caution, spicy peppers are able to burn soft tissues, eyes and skin; they should be treated with respect. They can also  can cause uncomfortable digestive distress for the uninitiated. Please don't try to prove how much fire you can take by ingesting a pepper or produce made with them, you could live to regret it.

06 August 2019

Now That's My Kind of Jelly! How to Make Low Sweet, No Muss, No Fuss, Set Every Time Jelly


Jelly making has been a traditional fall event at Heart's Ease Cottage for many, many years. When the children were small it was a late night venture, when I didn't have to worry about "littles" under foot. Once the kids were grown it was easier to make it a daytime project. No matter what the time of day it is, or time of year for that matter, setting the mood is an important part of the process. I fling the windows open, turn the ceiling fans on high, crank up the tunes and make a lovely mess out of my kitchen.

 I freeze fruits from our gardens over the summer to use in the fall. I also look forward to harvesting apples and pears from the mountain farms in the fall for jelly and other thing like fruit leathers and dried apple rings (but that is a post for another day). Many times I will cook down fruit and extract the juice for jelly, putting it in freezer bags to be made into jelly at a later date. This cuts the jelly making time down and decompresses the whole process a good bit. In recent years, I haven't often had a whole day to devote to a kitchen project, so breaking the process into smaller pieces makes it more likely that I will actually get all the way through to jars of jelly sitting on the shelf.

In the past, homemade jelly required more cups of sugar than cups of fruit juice in order to get the jelly to set. Our diet does not allow for much refined sweetener so a lot of the jelly was made for gift giving and not for our consumption. The exception would be Still Water's personal blackberry jelly stash, which he guards jealously and is reluctant to share even within the household...

But then one day I made a discovery that changed what we could keep in our larder for our own use. Traditional pectin gels by a sugar/pectin/acid trifecta that can be a bit unpredictable and requires a huge amount of sugar to get the jelly to set. But much to my delight I discovered a citrus pectin that gels due to a reaction between the pectin and a solution of calcium carbonate. No sugar is required to get a gel and it's set is very consistent and reliable. The fruit juice sets to jelly as the mixture cools; no spoon testing required to determine if it will set!

So rather than talk about how to make traditional apple pectin jelly, I am going to walk through the process of jelly making using citrus pectin and calcium carbonate. The product that I use is called Pomona Universal Pectin. It is a little pricey, but when you consider how much sugar can be eliminated from a recipe and the fact that you can get 22 cups of jelly out of a box, it is really quite a good deal!

For our family wholesome and nutritious is tantamount. What we put in our body needs to nourish and strengthen us. We like sweets as well as the next person, but not at the expense of our health and immune system. So I was thrilled when I found a pectin that doesn't require sugar to set the jelly! (Ball makes a no sugar needed pectin, but it has dextrose in it and I am not a fan so I won't use it, and the set was never spectacular in my experience). Now I can have lovely fruit spread for bagels and sandwiches without having to poison myself with sugar!

The name of the pectin is Pomona's Universal Pectin. It has been around awhile, but the price always put me off and after my experience with Ball's "no sugar needed" pectin, I was reluctant to give it a try. Then Healthy Home Market went out of business and was selling everything a 75% off so I bought a box. I used it  the next day and was so thrilled with the results that I went back and bought every box that was on the shelf!

What makes Pomona so great?  No sweetener is necessary, since the jelling action come from a combination of citrus pectin, calcium and citric acid. Of course, you can sweeten the jelly to your personal taste with the sweetener of your choice. The directions cover a number of different ways you can sweeten your jelly, everything from no sweetener to stevia, agave, honey and yes should you choose to do so, sugar.  It also can be used to make jello. But hold on! There is more good news! You can make as many batches at once as you like!  Ball pectin cannot be doubled, but must be jellied one batch at a time because of the fickle nature of apple pectin. But Pomona Universal Pectin is made from citrus pectin and uses calcium to create the jell so it will consistently jell no matter how many batches you put in the jelly pot. Also one box of pectin will make 22 8 oz. jars of jelly, where Ball pectin renders only 8- 8 oz. jars per box. And if that isn't enough, there is no need for a jelly thermometer, no boiling to the jelly point and testing for set, you just add the directed amount of calcium to the fruit juice, mix the pectin with the sweetener and when the juice and calcium come to a boil; add the sweetener/pectin blend stir until dissolved and return to a boil for one minute. No need to check for set, just ladle into sterilized jars, clean rims, adjust lids and process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes. The jelly will set when cool.

So now that I have expounded on the virtues of Pomona pectin, I will share my recipe for Blueberry Lime Jelly!

                                                     Blueberry Lime Jelly

One recipe makes 4 cups of jelly.

4 cups of rendered blueberry juice
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
the zest of one lime (I always use organic limes, conventionally grown citrus is sprayed with a fungicide that won't completely wash off)
1/2 cup honey
4 tsp. pectin
4 tsp. calcium

For each batch of jelly that renders 4 cups, use 3 cups of mashed fruit and extract the juice by boiling the fruit with 1 cup of bottled apple juice or other juice that won't compete with the flavor of your fruit.(I use organic fruit and organic apple juice but the choice is yours).

Crush the fresh berries and add apple juice. Cook over medium heat to extract the juice from the berries.
I only use organic citrus zest since commercially grown citrus is
 sprayed heavily with pesticides and fungicides that won't come completely
off the skins when washed.

I have a plane zester that I swear by. The zest comes off the fruit in fine strands
and leaves all the white pith on the lime. 

I use organic apple juice, but any juice flavor you want can be used, just
 be sure that the flavor of the juice compliments the fruit.

I usually make 3 or 4 batches at a time since the pectin works on multiple batches. Really, who only makes 4 jars of jelly at a time? I usually make enough jars to fill the canner.

Once the juice has been extracted, ladle the cooked fruit pulp and juice into a strainer lined with cheese cloth.
Strain cooked fruit pulp and juice through a double layer of
cheese cloth suspended over a pan by a mesh. strainer

 Allow the juice to drip into a bowl or pan until it stops actively dripping. Then pull up the corners of the cheesecloth, twist the drawn up corners until tight against the pulp and twist and squeeze the remaining juice through the strainer until all the juice is out of the pulp. The total amount of juice needed is 4 cups of juice per batch.

Allow the juice to drip until it slows perceptibly
When the juice stops dripping by itself, draw up the corners of the cheesecloth
and twist tight against to pulp. Twist, press and squeeze until all the
 possible juice is removed then compost the pulp.



Remove the pectin and the calcium from the box, (the smaller packet is the calcium). In a small jar put the contents of the packet and add 1/2 cup water, put on a lid and shake until powder is completely dissolved in water.  You will be using  4 tsp. of calcium per batch of jelly.

Mix the packet of calcium with 1/2 cup water and shake until dissolved.
Any leftover calcium liquid should be stored in the fridge.

Put the juice in your jelly pot, add 4 tsp. calcium, 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed lime juice the zest of 1 lime, per batch, and heat to a boil. While the juice is heating, mix together well, 1/2 cup honey per batch of jelly  ( you can add up to 1 cup of honey if 1/2 cup, isn't sweet enough) and 4 tsp. pectin.

Bring the juice to a full boil, add sweetener/pectin mixture and stir vigorously 1-2 minutes until dissolved. Once the liquid is at a full boil, take the pot off the heat an ladle into sterilized jars. using a spoon carefully remove any scum or bubbles from the surface of the jelly.



 Clean the rims with a clean cloth, adjust lids and process in a water bath canner in boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove jars with a jar lifter and place on the counter to cool. The jelly will set once the jars and liquid are completely cool. Could take overnight to set.

Wipe the rim of the jars with a clean damp cloth, then apply the flat part of a
two part lid that has been in boiling water. Add the band and adjust to just finger tight.


*Note: If you are used to regular ball pectin you will be surprised at how few jars of jelly you get per batch. The reason is that you aren't using 7 to nine cups of sugar per batch, so you are basically getting one cup of jelly per cup of juice. It is healthy and practically guilt free!

All the jelly I have made with this pectin has come out perfectly. There has been no loose or runny jelly, just firm spreadable jelly that is lightly sweet so that all the lovely fruit flavor comes through. If you try the pectin, or the recipe, please pop back to my blog and tell me what you think!


27 June 2019

What 40 Years of Growing Tomatoes has Taught Me

Everyone has their own way of growing tomatoes. There those who trellis or stake, some that use store bought cages and others who make their own. Everyone has their own special way of feeding or caring for the plants once they are planted. I have no intention of telling people that they are not growing their tomatoes the "right way" way, but there are a few things I see people doing which limits their tomato production. So in this blog post I am going share a few of my tomato growing secrets and talk about some important things to know about growing tomatoes.

Since it is past seed starting time I will skip past that in this post and go straight to getting them in the ground and caring for them. Every year at tomato planting time I break out my fishing gear and head to my favorite spot to fish for fertilizer. I don't care what I catch, but I don't take large or desirable fish out of the lake. I will let someone who will eat them have those. What I want are the small guys and bottom feeders that no one will miss. Pumpkin Seed, small bluegill and catfish are what I hope to catch. Once I have a bucket full of fish I will head home and begin to plant my tomatoes. I dig a deep hole and place a piece of fish at the bottom of the hole. Then I trim off the bottom set of leaves or two depending on the size of the tomato seedling, and plant the tomato in the ground   on top of the piece of fish then I cover them with dirt above where I trimmed off the leaves. Tomato can be planted deep in the soil. They will grow roots all along their stems which will  help to anchor it and draw up more nutrients making for a stronger tomato plant. The fish is easy to access nutrition for the tomato while it is establishing in its permanent location.

Readily available natural fertilizer to give my tomato the best start in life possible.

Half a Pumpkin Seed fish at the bottom of the tomato hole will provide easy to access nutrients and help prevent transplant shock.

This seedling is ready for planting. It is large enough to stand up to some wind and driving rain and has plenty of leaf branches.

Here I have removed the bottom couple leaf branches so that I can plant it deeply in the soil.

The plant is deeply planted and will grow roots all along the stem under the soil to provide stability and better uptake of nutrients.

Here is what the plant looks like 6 weeks after planting. Healthy and laden with ripening fruit.



Once the tomato is given a nice deep hole and some easy to access nutrients, the next thing to consider is how to keep the plant healthy. Here in North Carolina, Early Blight is a real problem. Early Blight is a soil borne fungus that causes the leave to yellow and wither and will reduce the plants production substantially

Early Blight fungus takes a perfectly health plant and reduces it to yellowing leaves and bare vines.
(Photo from Google search no photo credits given)

Early Blight will also reduce production and cause misshapen  or small fruit
(Photo from Google search no photo credits given)

It is very simple to prevent Early Blight. Since it is a soil borne fungus, all that must be done to prevent it is to provide a deep mulch or ground cover  under the tomato plants that keeps soil from splashing up on the leaves.  I use a landscaping cloth that easily passes water, bu prevents splash. It has the added benefit of suppressing weeds. Most years I also put a layer of wood mulch on top of the cloth to further prevent splash and help to hold in moisture.

Tomatoes prefer to be watered at their roots. Although this isn't always possible, if it is it will help to prevent fusarium wilt and powdery mildew. If you have these problems, then it is important to water at the roots and never touch the leaves of the plant when they are wet. 

Tomato Hornworms can wreak havoc on your plants as well. There are a few tried and true organic ways to eliminate them. You can spray your plants with Bt, (Bacillus Thuringiensis, trade name Dipel) at the first sign of damage. It is a naturally occurring bacterium, that paralyzes the digestive system of leaf eating caterpillars. It is safe for humans animals and beneficial insects with the exception of butterfly caterpillars, so be sure to avoid getting the Bt on the plants where butterfly caterpillar feed, like dill, parsley and milkweed. I don't use Bt on my tomatoes, but I do use it on anything in the cabbage family since looper worms are difficult to control any other way. The reason I choose not to use it on my tomatoes is because it is easy to see where the worm are at work and pick them off and destroy them,. This given me one less area I need to spray. The only time I leave the caterpillars alone is when they have little white cocoons on their backs. The natural predator of the Tomato Hornworn is a parasitic wasp that lays its young in the back of the Hornworm. The young feed on the caterpillar, killing it and creating more predators for the worms. 


Tomato Hornworm
(Photo from Google search no photo credits given)

Remove but do not destroy the caterpillar that has these cocoons on its back.
(Photo from Google search no photo credits given)
Now that the tomato is protected from disease and pests, the next concern is how to increase productivity and quality of the tomato fruits. Tomatoes are heavy feeders so I feed mine a side dressing of compost when hey begin to bear fruit and feed them with a diluted solution of fish emulsion as a foliar feeding and at the roots every few weeks. Feeding is important, but the plants will really excel when they are judicially pruned to channel the strength of the plant to fruit production instead of spending energy on foliage. It also helps light reaches the fruit and helps the bees to find the flowers to pollinate. 

I know that there is much talk in gardening circles about pinching "suckers" to increase production. But it is important to understand what the sucker really is. It is said that little leaflets that appear in the crotch of the stem and tomato branch are the "suckers" that tomato growers are encouraged to pinch, but if you pay attention to the habits of the tomato plant you will see that this in incorrect. In truth, the leaflet in the crotch will become a fruiting branch and the leafy branch that it is attached to to the stem of the tomato is actually the part that need to be removed.  If you look closely you will notice that as the leaflet in the crotch grows, the leafing branch below will bend downward. This leafing branch will never produce flowers and should be removed, not the leaflet.

 In the following series of photos I will plead my case and you can see if you agree with me. Below is a photo of the stem and leafing branch with the "sucker" growing in the crotch. 

It has been said that the "sucker" should be pinched, but in doing so you are actually removing the fruiting stem and leaving an non producting leafy branch.
The leafy branch, "non bearing "sucker" that is pointing down will never produce fruit. It should be removed to allow for the fruiting branch to have the energy to produce more fruit.

When the leaflet in the crotch is a couple inches tall and the leafing branch is beginning to point downwards it is time to prune off the leafy branch leaving the center leaflet to become a fruiting branch.

The bottom circle shows that this is the leaflet growing in the crotch, the top circle shows the forming flower spurs. If you had pinched this as a "sucker" you would have reduced your production by 4 to 6 tomatoes for each one you pinched out.

The proof is in the pudding... What was originally thought of as a "sucker" that takes strength from the plant and reduces production, is actually a fruiting spur and the leafy branch that would be left if you pinched the spur is what should be removed to give strength to the spur.

Hopefully this is not confusing. I have tried to lay it out clearly, but if anyone doesn't understand, leave a comment and I will try to clarify.

Well I have probably talked enough about tomatoes today so I will stop here and continue next time with how I increase productivity in Determinate tomato varieties. Hope to see you then!

As always I love comments. They help me to feel like I am not just talking to myself :) Please feel free to ell me what you think or just to say "howdy!"

Some Thoughts on Tomato Varieties

This post is overdue. My spring was full and blogging unfortunately took a backseat to an array of other things. So here we go, better late than never...

Tomatoes are serious business here at Heart's Ease Cottage. We only eat fresh tomatoes in season, since in the off seasons even the organically grown tomatoes at the store are a sad lot. So we really  look forward to the day we can eat our fresh, homegrown, warm off the vine 'maters.

We start our tomatoes from seed in our indoor seed starting system. I have my favorites that I plant every year and usually try a new variety or two in search of new favorites. There are 2 kinds of tomatoes, determinate and indeterminate. Determinate varieties ripen heavy flushes of fruit at once and then after a few flushes will die off. Indeterminate varieties will produce less fruit at once, but with proper pruning and feeding will produce consistently over a long season.

For preserving I stick with the meaty Roma style tomato. San Marzano and Amish Paste tomatoes are my stand-bys. San Marzano is a determinate variety, as all Romas are, so they put on a lot of fruit that ripens in flushes, usually 2 large flushes and one smaller one and then the plants are done. You can eek out a few tomatoes from there on but it is really not worth the bother or the garden space to try and squeeze any more out from the vines. San Marzano is a heavy yielder of uniformly sized fruit, that is great for drying, canning as sauce and stewed tomatoes, and also works very well for salsa and relish. Amish Paste tomato is determinate, with thick, blocky tomatoes that have dense flesh and very few seeds. They make wonderful sauce and paste as well as dried tomatoes. Their one draw back is that they do not produce as many tomatoes per plant as the San Marzano. This is probably because the dense fruit takes longer to ripen. You will get one solid flush and a smaller second flush and then the plant is done. I would have to plant about twice as many Amish Paste Tomatoes to get the same amount of fruit as I get from San Marzano. So I use the Amish Paste tomatoes for specific purposes, paste and dried tomato powder, and grow San Marzano for the bulk of my preserving needs. I do have a way to extend the growing season of a determinate tomato variety, but I will have to write another blog post on that to keep this post from becoming a book. I promise I will share this technique in a future post!

San Marzano is a good Roma Type Tomato for sauce, paste and drying
(Photo from Google search had no Photo credit posted)

Amish Paste Tomato is a blocky, meaty tomato good for paste, sauce and drying
(Photo from Google search had no photo credit)



Indeterminate tomatoes do not make very good candidates for preserving. They have too much water and too many seeds. But they make great tomatoes for slicing and fresh eating. There are some indeterminate, open pollinated slicers, but I usually don't grow them. I grow heirloom and open pollinated varieties for many of the vegetables in our garden so that I can save seed, but since I grow a lot of varieties of tomatoes, I can't save the seed, so I grow a mixed bag of hybrid and open-pollinated tomatoes for fresh eating.

Many of the open pollinated and heirloom tomatoes are large, juicy fruits that can weigh a pound or more a piece and take forever to ripen.  I don't like wet tomatoes for sandwiches because I hate soggy bread, so I prefer to grow a smaller 4-6 ounce hybrid tomato that gets ripe fast, fits neatly on my sandwich without overhang and won't make my bread soggy. I do grow heirloom varieties for eating straight off the vine like and apple or for slicing as a side dish with a sprinkle of basil strips and some freshly cracked pepper.... my mouth is watering as I type... but most of my slicing tomatoes are hybrid. Hybrids are also less prone to Cat Facing, and splitting since they don't suck up so much water.

So what varieties of indeterminate tomatoes do I grow? I am very fond of Celebrity (hybrid) for sandwiches, it is a nice 4-6 oz. tomato with a thin tender skin. I also grow German Pink (Open Pollinated), Black Cherokee (Open Pollinated) and some variety of orange tomato. Of course there is the Sweet 100 (heirloom) cherry tomato that produces quantities of sweet, "pop in your mouth while weeding goodness" (only need one of these babies...), and Yellow Pear (heirloom), and the Rutger (Open Pollinated), an 8 oz determinate slicer  that is has good flavor and not too many seeds. Others that I adore but haven't planted this year are the Currant tomato, which is a slightly larger than a pea sized tomato that is a powerhouse of tomato flavor in a tiny package. Warning this volunteers prolifically and where ever you last planted it is going to have a mass of volunteers the following year, brace yourself and treat them as weeds except for the one or two you want to transplant for this years consumption). Indigo Rose for it's beautiful almost black color and anathocyanins that have proved to help prevent cancer, I also really enjoy the heirloom Pineapple tomato. It is delicious, but often split and beaks on the vine because they take up so much water, so I only grow it on occasion.

Celebrity is a hybrid, 4-6 oz. slicer with good taste and thin skin
(Photo found on Google search not photo credit given)

Rutger is a determinate  open pollinated slicer. It has a good flavor and size but is not a long season variety
(Photo found on Google search no photo credit given)

Indigo Rose_ lovely and delicious 

Tomato varieties I don't bother to grow: Mortgage Lifter, it is so huge I can't get it out of my tomato cage without great effort and it is sloppy wet, mealy and won't keep, I don't grow Beefsteak for the same reason. Big Boy isn't prolific enough to give it garden space. I don't grow Grape tomatoes because they are shaped like a torpedo and are a choking hazard, (personal issue...).

So what do I do with all these tomatoes??  I will tell you in an upcoming post that will include some of my favorite fast and easy recipes.  But for now I am trying to catch up on overdue blog posts so I will end this here and start my next post and what 40 years of growing tomatoes has taught me.

21 June 2018

Taking Care of Hummingbird Visitors

I look forward to the return of our hummingbird visitors every May. We usually see a hummingbird scout once or twice in late April flit in and check out the offerings and then dart way. The others show up consistently to visit the Cottage's gardens and feeders in May.

Since today is the day that I clean and refill the feeders, I thought I would chat about the care and feeding of hummingbirds. First and best for feeding hummers is to provide them with flowers that offer them ample tasty nectar. Trumpet vine, fuschia, nicotiana, salvia, honeysuckle, petunias, coral bells, daylilies, yarrow, to name a few. In our gardens, the hummers also regularly visit the paintbox colored zinnias and baskets of geraniums. We have so many flowers here and often see the hummingbirds darting and squabbling over the flowers all over the yard. But I love being able to hear the beat of their wings, their little chirps and see their brilliant colored plumage, so I put feeders close to the places we sit outside so we can have a front row seat to enjoy them!

These feeders are visible from the veranda and the patio 
The veranda offers us a clear view of the hummers
while keeping us out of their flight path.


Feeding hummingbirds is easy and fairly inexpensive, all you need is sugar and water. The ratio of sugar to water is one part sugar to four parts water (example: 1 cup sugar to four cups water). I boil it for 5 minutes and then cool completely before filling the feeders. Use plain white sugar, not turbinado, or any other kind of sweetener, since these have properties that are not in their natural diet. Please, please, please, don't add red food dye to the sugar water. The dye is very bad for our little friends and it is unnecessary since the feeders are colorful and are attractive to them.

There are a few other things that I would like to mention about the feeders. Drawing hummingbirds to the feeder is a great way to enjoy a charming bit of Creation, but it is important to make sure that what is being offered will be healthy and safe for them to eat. Flower nectar is fresh and mold free, so what is offered in the feeders should mirror nature. Sugar water will ferment while sitting in the sun and mold will grow on the inside of the bottle and will hide in the flower shaped feeding receptacles. Fermented sugar water isn't healthy for the birds and mold is down right toxic to them. So if feeding them is something desirable, then going the extra mile to make sure it is healthy and safe for the hummers is important.  I fill the feeders a couple times a week, especially when the weather is very hot.  It will ferment and go cloudy in about 3 days, so to avoid waste I only fill the feeders about half full when it is really hot.

It takes 3 days or less for the food to ferment in hot weather
Once a week I take them all down, scrub, bleach and rinse them very well before refilling them to make sure that there is no mold growing in the containers.

Once a week I bleach and scrub the feeders and then rinse them well in clear water
 to make sure there is no bleach residue.

Crystal clear and safe for the birds to eat.

 That way when I see the little guys zipping around the feeders I know that what they are eating is tasty and wholesome.







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