A couple of announcements then on to the main story!
There will be a LOT of tomatoes this week. Like, I mean, A LOT! Please plan accordingly.
We are still taking back the cherry tomato pints. Bring them to the pick-up tent or place them in the delivery tote.
We are still looking for help! We have a few volunteers who have helped or will be coming out shortly and really appreciate the assistance. We could still use a committed employee though. But if volunteering is your best offer we’ll take it!
Now on to this week’s top story!
Farm News
If you are plagued by drosophila (fruit flies) this time of year (or frankly any time of year) you can make a simple trap that is quite effective. We use it here at the farm and in our own home. All you need it apple cider vinegar (other vinegars might work too but I’ve always preferred the apple cider for my fruit fly traps), a jar or other container, a drop of dish soap, and a strong desire to kill all the fruit flies. Put a small amount of vinegar in the bottom of the trap, like a half inch or so. Put a small drop of dish soap into the vinegar. Set the jar in a place where you are finding fruit flies. By the end of the day you should find a bunch of fruit flies at the bottom of the trap. I typically leave a trap around all summer to keep the population in check, periodically adding vinegar as it evaporates or dumping it and recharging it with fresh vinegar/soap solution.
Hey Farmer Chris. Thanks for the pro-tip! But, how does this trap work? Well, glad you asked. The vinegar attracts the fruit flies. What right-minded fruit fly wouldn’t love a proboscis full of vinegar! MmmMmmm. Tasty! When the fruit fly lands on the surface of straight vinegar to take a drink, there is enough surface tension on the vinegar to support the weight of the fruit fly. So if you only had vinegar you would have a lot of fruit flies landing, taking a drink then flying off. But if you add a bit of dish soap the soap reduces the surface tension and the vinegar soap solution won’t support the weight of the fruit fly. So it will sink and drown. But at least it will drown happy.
Wait, wait, wait. You’re trying to pull a fast one Farmer Chris. As I understand it, the surface tension of acetic acid, which is what vinegar is, is 0.027 N/m. That isn’t a lot of surface tension. In fact, it is about the same as soapy water. Seems like the fruit flies would sink in the vinegar without the soap. What gives Farmer Chris? How many share of Proctor & Gamble do you own? It is true that acetic acid has a lower surface tension. But I highly doubt you have 100% acetic acid in your bottle of vinegar. If you do, do not use it for the Greek Salad recipe I sent out last week. That could be quite painful. Most likely it is around 5%, so there is still a lot of water in the vinegar and a therefore a lot of surface tension. I couldn’t find the number for 5% acid vinegar but for 10% the surface tension is 0.055 N/m. Water’s surface tension is 0.072 N/m. I suspect 5% vinegar would be about in between so around 0.063 N/m, which is plenty of surface tension to support a full-grown fruit fly. But when you add the soap the surface tension drops by more than half to around 0.025 N/m, which as we’ve seen in our traps cannot support the weight of a fruit fly! So, no more fruit flies!
Speaking of Tomatoes (who was speaking of tomatoes?), one thing I haven’t done in quite a few years is list the tomatoes we are growing with pictures so you can identify them if you’d like. I’m not sure how helpful this is but I suspect at the very least it will help you to realize some of the tomatoes we grow are ripe when still green. So without further ado, here are this season’s tomatoes (not including the cherry tomatoes).
This first one is called Dark Star. It is dark red and typically has green shoulders when ripe.
This one is an heirloom variety called Big Yellow Zebra. It is bigger than Green Zebra (later in the newsletter), and more yellow. It turns striped yellow when ripe.
This is another heirloom tomato called Yellow Brandywine. It does not have stripes but is yellow like the Big Yellow Zebra. It is also big and flat.
This is another heirloom tomato called Eva’s Purple Ball. I don’t think it is really purple, more pink, but it is ball shaped and probably someone named Eva had something to do with its past.
This next heirloom tomato is called Tasty Evergreen. I suspect the name is derived from the fact it stays greenish (more yellow as it matures) and it is tasty, though perhaps someone named Tasty had something to do with its past.
This next one is a paste tomato called San Marzano, named for the Italian city from whence it came. It is a great paste tomato for those dishes where you want more meat and less pulp. It is also one of the few determinate tomatoes we grow.
Another green heirloom we grow is called Green Zebra. I’m not sure if it is related to the Big Yellow Zebra but is sure looks like it could be. It is a smaller, round tomato that starts out green and white striped but turns to green and yellow when it ripens. As with all our tomatoes it is quite tasty!
This is another heirloom paste tomato we grow — Amish Paste. These are at an unripe stage. They will turn red when ripe. It is bigger than San Marzanos but with more of an Amish flavor than an Italian flavor, whatever that means. It also tends to be more meaty than typical slicing tomatoes.
This variety is called Golden Sunray. It looks like a typical standard red tomato but is golden yellow when ripe. Tough to tell the difference from a red tomato until it is soft and still not red.
This tomato is call GinFizz. When ripe, this tomato is yellow with a red blossom end. Pretty cool!
Finally we have a couple of plain old red varieties that are hard to tell apart — Big Dena and Geronimo. This is a picture of Big Dena or Geronimo, I’m just not sure which.
I think that is all the big tomatoes we grow. Hopefully you find this information helpful.
What will we have this week?
More sweet corn! This variety is my favorite — Xtra Tender 274. It is very sweet, stores well and has a nice pop when eaten. The 274 refers to the number of kernels on the cob (not really). We’ll also have lots and lots and lots of tomatoes, plus cherry tomatoes, some cucumbers, some eggplants, fewer zucchini, some cauliflower, a few broccoli, onions, garlic, potatoes!!! (I should have mentioned that first), some green beans, some yellow beans, some peppers, some tomatillos and probably some other things I forgot.
It is also an EggShare and FlowerShare week.
Recipe of the Week
No time for a recipe of the week.
Joke of the Week
There is always time for the joke of the week, so here it is:
What do tomatoes and potatoes have in commons?
Toes!
As always, if you want better jokes you have to send them in, preferably vegetable jokes. Also fee free to send in questions, comments, suggestions, etc.