Yesterday Was Buster's Day

No harvest yesterday.

There was no harvest yesterday because we had to put down our beloved Manchester Terrier, Buster Brown. We took him to the veternarian as he had projectile vomited overnight and hadn't eaten in a day and a half. When we got him there he had lost more weight than before (we brought him in about a week prior). My wife and I discussed it and decided that nothing more can be done.

So yesterday was Buster's day. I carried him on his favorite walk, the long walk, in the late morning. My wife spent quiet time with him in the back yard. She carried him around the back yard. After a few chores, I brought him back to a local veternary clinic.

I first met Buster when I met my then girlfriend. I remember him being aggressive and pugnacious, but he was clearly just protecting my girlfriend. I liked him. But soon he dug himself out of the backyard and ran away once or twice.

Later on I found out he had a rough upbringing and may have been abused when he was a puppy. My now wife got him around the age of 2.5 to 3 years and thought he owned her and her back yard. If a male had originally treated him badly and a female treated him nicely, one can fully understand his reaction. I didn't quite understand that at the time but Buster was a dog's dog, both good and bad. Even if I didn't like some behavior I pretty much always knew where he was coming from.

Then I moved in. More adjustments. He still thought he was the alpha dog and it took a while to convince him otherwise. Sometimes I wasn't gentle about it, but I had to show him that he wasn't in control of me. I also had to show him that there were no hard feelings.

My then girlfriend didn't walk the dogs, but I did. And Buster loved it. And we bonded.

One night Buster was misbehaving in some fashion just before I was to walk both of them. I tried something different -- I put him on his leash without punishing him and attached the end of his leash to the table leg. And the other dog and I went for a walk.

He got it. Punishing him was hit or miss but taking away this privilege while the other dog enjoyed it. His behavior got much better. We bonded some more, understood each other. He never ran away again.

He'd picked off my ripening tomatoes which I didn't like but it would frequently make me laugh more than anything. Him and I would coordinate so that he could catch grasshoppers. I'd call him over and then spook the grasshopper, making it move and Buster would do the rest.

He was a chatty dog. That was one of his charms. It was noisy, but charming. He was affectionate, moreso as he got older. And he loved walks. And dog biscuits.

He had lost weight pretty dramatically over the last several weeks. He had inflammatory bowel disease but we believe it was more than that. Regardless, he felt good enough on Friday night/Saturday morning that when he was placed on our bed he was licking my calf for 5 or 10 minutes. With force. Like nothing was wrong. I had walked him to the end of the block earlier in the evening.

On Saturday he took a turn for the worse. Sunday night he didn't eat all day and it all came out and more on Monday morning. Even though he was wobbly legged, I did get him outside and walked to the sidewalk and back.

The toughest part of putting him down was the one hour wait.

Eventually he was brought in, talked with the assistant, waited about 5 minutes, talked with the doctor (she said several times that we were doing the right thing) and waited some more. She brought in Buster in a warm blanket.

The lethal injection was made in the IV and Buster shot up like a cannon! The doctor said he's not in pain but some times dogs react because it is cold. Buster was so thin he couldn't regulate his temperature (we had a jacket on him almost all the time) so this made sense. He went back down and I had my hand on his protruding rib cage. His breathing became very very light after 30 seconds. The doctor examined him for a few seconds and declared him dead. I placed my hand on his rib cage and he wasn't breathing.

I'll really, really miss Buster.

Today's harvest includes 6 Matt's Wild Cherry, 3 SunSugar, 2 Sweet Carneros Pink, 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Garden Peach, 2 Patio, 2 Persimmon(1), 2 SunGold(1), Green Zebra(1), Porkchop, Husky Cherry Red(2), Golden Mama, Large Pink Anna(1), Green Grape, Green Doctors Kiwi(1) (not Green Doctors Kiwi), Michael Pollan, Orange And Green Zebra, Oaxacan Jewel(2), Yellow Brandywine and Coyote (not Coyote) for a total of 33 tomatoes.


We've now harvested over 350 SunGold(1) tomatoes.  

Harvested 300 Garden Peach Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 7 Husky Cherry Red(2), 7 SunGold(1), 7 Matt's Wild Cherry, 4 Sweet Carneros Pink, 2 Porkchop, 2 Garden Peach, 2 Coyote (not Coyote), Neves Azorean Red, Haley's Purple Comet, Golden Mama, Jaune Flamme, Patio, SunSugar, Orange And Green Zebra, Big White Pink Stripe, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Oaxacan Jewel(2) and Yellow Brandywine for a total of 42 tomatoes.

We've now harvested exactly 300 Garden Peach tomatoes! Also, we've harvested exactly 100 Jaune Flamme tomatoes.

Sweet Carneros Pink is over it's second wind.

It's hot out there!! Yesterday got up to 100.5 degrees and today should be hotter. 

Harvested Over 4500 Front Yard Tomatoes For The Year!

Today's harvest includes 16 Sweet Carneros Pink, 13 Husky Cherry Red(2), 7 Matt's Wild Cherry, 3 Sweet 100, 3 Yellow Brandywine, 2 Stupice, 2 Aunt Ruby's German Green(3) (6 ounces), 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Kellogg's Breakfast, Snow White, Oaxacan Jewel(2), Large Pink Anna(1), Green Grape, Vorlon, Porkchop, Haley's Purple Comet, SunGold(1), Golden Mama, Orange And Green Zebra, Pineapple, Garden Peach, Red Zebra and Crimson Cushion(2) for a total of 64 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 4500 front yard tomatoes for the year (4514)! In spite of that, the back yard total is now larger than the front yard harvest by a few tomatoes a day.

We've now harvested over 150 Sweet Carneros Pink tomatoes (155)! 

Harvested Over 8000 Tomatoes For The Year!

Today's harvest includes 14 Matt's Wild Cherry, 14 Snow White, 11 Husky Cherry Red(2), 7 Stupice, 6 Orange And Green Zebra, 5 Sweet Carneros Pink, 4 Coyote (not Coyote), 4 SunGold(1), 4 Sweet 100, 3 Garden Peach, 3 Kellogg's Breakfast, 3 Yellow Brandywine, 3 Paul Robeson(2), 3 Haley's Purple Comet, 3 Oaxacan Jewel(2), 2 Porkchop, 2 Jaune Flamme, Vorlon, Large Pink Anna(1), Patio, Green Grape and Michael Pollan for a total of 96 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 8000 tomatoes for the year (8012)! The harvest numbers are staying surprisingly steady and in fact have gone up over the last couple of days. I suspect this is due to the recent heat wave and the numbers will drop shortly.

Yesterday's and today's harvest has been more "substantial" than it has been in a while. I'm not talking just about numbers, but about size as well. A lot of beefsteaks are having a second wind, such as Yellow Brandywine, Paul Robeson(2) and Kelloggs' Breakfast. Having said that, these tomatoes are only one to two ounces. Still, that weighs more than a Matt's Wild Cherry! My wife noticed the difference immediately.

We've also harvested over 1500 back yard tomatoes for the month of August (1522). Also, we've harvested over 150 Orange And Green Zebra tomatoes (153) as well as over 50 Porkchop (51) tomatoes -- wow, this tomato is so memorable you'd have thought we'd harvested much more than that.

I should have mentioned yesterday that we've now harvested over 900 Snow White tomatoes (931).  

Harvested Over 2400 Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes!

Sunday's harvest includes 23 Matt's Wild Cherry, 20 Snow White, 5 Husky Cherry Red(2), 4 SunGold(1), 4 Stupice, 3 Yellow Brandywine, 3 Persimmon(1), 3 Garden Peach, 3 Orange And Green Zebra, 3 Sweet Carneros Pink, 2 Large Pink Anna(2), 2 SunSugar, 2 Persimmon(2), 2 Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, 2 Haley's Purple Comet, Patio, Kellogg's Breakfast, Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, Husky Gold and Aunt Ruby's German Green(3) for a total of 86 tomatoes.

I realized a day or two ago that we had grown Speckled Roman from seed. So the fact that it looks like Persimmon isn't a coincidence. It is Persimmon. So I've renamed the two tomatoes to Persimmon(1) and Persimmon(2).

Four tomato plants were pulled: Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, Large Pink Anna(2), Green Zebra(2) (not Green Zebra) and Cassidy's Folly.

Today's harvest includes 23 Matt's Wild Cherry, 14 Snow White, 9 SunGold(1), 9 Husky Cherry Red(2), 6 Stupice, 5 Orange And Green Zebra, 4 Sweet Carneros Pink, 3 Green Grape, 2 Haley's Purple Comet, 2 Yellow Brandywine, Coyote (not Coyote), Vorlon, Neves Azorean Red, Persimmon(1) (6.5 ounces), Honkin' Big Black Cherry, Kellogg's Breakfast and Husky Gold for a total of 84 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 2400 Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes (2427)! Also, we've harvested over 500 Husky Cherry Red(2) tomatoes (501), over 300 SunGold(1) tomatoes (307) and over 100 Sweet Carneros Pink tomatoes (106). 

Harvested Over 7500 Tomato Plants For The Year!

Today's harvest includes 36 Matt's Wild Cherry, 33 Snow White, 10 Orange And Green Zebra, 4 Husky Cherry Red(2), 3 SunSugar, 3 Garden Peach, 3 Stupice, 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 SunGold(1), Husky Cherry Red(1), Porkchop, Haley's Purple Comet, Sweet 100, Green Zebra(2) (not Green Zebra) and Yellow Brandywine for a total of 102 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 7500 tomatoes for the year (7511)! Based on numbers and taste, 2011 is a good year for us.

Four tomato plants were pulled by my wife yesterday: Crimson Cushion(1), Bloody Butcher, Lime Green Salad and Portuguese Neighbor. Speaking of which, Happy Birthday Sweetie!!

We've now harvested over 800 Snow White tomatoes (815).

Orange And Green Zebra is getting a true second wind. The plant still looks good.

Harvested Over 3000 Tomatoes in August!

Today's harvest includes 43 Matt's Wild Cherry, 20 Snow White, 4 SunSugar, 2 Husky Cherry Red(1), 2 Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, 2 SunGold(1), 2 Honkin' Big Black Cherry, Jaune Flamme, Garden Peach, Orange And Green Zebra, Sweet Carneros Pink, Pineapple (12 ounces), Stupice, Speckled Roman (not Speckled Roman), Yellow Brandywine, Husky Cherry Red(2) and Haley's Purple Comet for a total of 85 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 3000 tomatoes for August (3081)! Barring a meltdown, this will be the most productive August for us.

We've also harvested over 2200 Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes (2242)! Finally, Matt's Wild Cherry is slowing down. But there's new growth with blooms. Matt's Wild Cherry will in all probability get a second wind. But the first wind isn't over with!

We've also harvested 50 Honkin' Big Black Cherry tomatoes.

Harvested Over 4500 Tomatoes For The Year!

Today's harvest includes 55 Matt's Wild Cherry, 20 Snow White, 14 Garden Peach, 10 Husky Cherry Red(2), 10 SunGold(1), 9 Husky Cherry Red(1), 9 Haley's Purple Comet, 8 Orange And Green Zebra, 5 Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, 3 SunSugar, 3 Stupice, 3 Golden Mama, 3 Jaune Flamme, 3 Green Zebra(2) (not Green Zebra), 3 Cassidy's Folly, 2 Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, 2 Kellogg's Breakfast (9.5 ounces), 2 Crimson Cushion(2) (7.5 ounces, 6 ounces), 2 Dr. Wyche's Yellow (8 ounces), 2 Sweet Carneros Pink, 2 Coyote (not Coyote), 2 Green Grape, 2 Hungarian Heart (11.5 ounces, 17 ounces), 2 Mexico, 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 2 Green Zebra(1), Portuguese Neighbor (11 ouncesa), Pineapple (13.5 ounces), Southern Night, Australian Giant Oxheart (8.5 ounces), Red Zebra, Yellow Brandywine (10.5 ounces), Oaxacan Jewel(2), Aunt Ruby's German Green(3) (10 ounces), Honkin' Big Black Cherry, Green Doctor's Kiwi(1) (not Green Doctor's Kiwi), Aunt Ruby's German Green(1), Big Zebra (6.5 ounces), German Orange Strawberry and Persimmon for a total of 194 tomatoes.

We've now harvested over 4500 tomatoes for the year (4644), surpassing the total for all of 2008.

Last night we tried the 22.5 ounce Pineapple tomato at our computer user group's board meeting. Everyone liked it! Many tomatoes were handed out as well.

It's Raining Snow White Tomatoes!

Today's harvest includes 66 Snow White, 43 Matt's Wild Cherry, 14 Garden Peach, 8 Husky Cherry Red(2), 7 Black Krim (10.5 ounces), 6 Orange and Green Zebra, 6 Husky Cherry Red(1), 5 Green Grape, 5 Golden Mama, 5 Haley's Purple Comet, 4 Cassidy's Folly, 4 Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, 3 SunSugar, 2 Yellow Brandywine (14.5 ounces, 15 ounces), 2 Southern Night, 2 Sweet Carneros Pink, 2 Neves Azorean Red (12.5 ounces, 11.5 ounces), 2 Green Doctor's Kiwi(1) (not Green Doctor's Kiwi), 2 Porkchop (6 ounces), 2 SunGold(1), Portuguese Neighbor (14 ounces), Big White Pink Stripe (14 ounces), Dr. Wyche's Yellow (9 ounces), Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Kellogg's Breakfast (18 ounces), Paul Robeson (9 ounces), Aunt Ruby's German Green (12 ounces), Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, Green Zebra(2) (not Green Zebra), Large Pink Anna(2), Jaune Flamme, Stupice, Chocolate Stripes(1), Green Zebra(1) and Bloody Butcher for a total of 205 tomatoes.

Wow, it's raining Snow White tomatoes! I thought I wouldn't harvest more than 42 Snow White tomatoes two days ago, but yesterday I harvested 55. Same scenario, different day...and I harvest 66 tomatoes today.

On July 19 we harvested 112 tomatoes. A week later we harvest 109 tomatoes off of two plants.

And I shouldn't forget, there's plenty of good sized tomatoes in today's harvest, including a 18 ounce Kellogg's Breakfast, a 14.5 ounce Yellow Brandywine and two 14 ounce tomatoes, Big White Pink Stripe and Portuguese Neighbor.

Great stuff!

I stepped on a Garden Peach while harvesting this morning, scattering seeds everywhere. I counted it in our totals.

What Was Life Before Porkchop?

Today's harvest includes 42 Snow White, 30 Matt's Wild Cherry, 8 Husky Cherry Red(2), 8 Husky Cherry Red(1), 6 Porkchop (9.5 ounces, 6 ounces, 7 ounces, 6 ounces, 8 ounces), 6 Garden Peach, 4 SunSugar, 4 Southern Night (6.5 ounces), 4 Golden Mama, 4 SunGold(1), 4 German Orange Strawberry (6 ounces), 3 Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, 3 Haley's Purple Comet, 3 Orange And Green Zebra, 3 Black Seaman(2), 3 Sweet Carneros Pink, 2 Oaxacan Jewel(2), 2 Portuguese Neighbor (9.5 ounces, 6.5 ounces), 2 Paul Robeson(2), 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Big White Pink Stripe, 2 Green Grape, Bloody Butcher, Patio, Aunt Ruby's German Green(3), Honkin' Big Black Cherry, Green Doctors Kiwi(2), Lime Green Salad, Hungarian Heart, Large Pink Anna(2), Green Zebra(2) (not Green Zebra), Cassidy's Folly, Australian Giant Oxheart (6.5 ounces) and Yellow Brandywine (12 ounces) for a total of 159 tomatoes.

We invited our friends Elizabeth and Ricardo over to our house for a little barbeque. We had just purchased a new gas barbeque last week and invited them over to hook it up and try it out. Everything worked fine. We'll be barbequing as it stays hot in the valley.

We had a taste test with several of our tomatoes, including Black Krim, Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, Yellow Brandywine, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Porkchop and Orange And Green Zebra. Everybody's least favorite was Orange And Green Zebra, by far. It's not a bad tomato but I don't find it that attractive a tomato, either. Black Krim was tasty and juicy. Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red was just as good as I remember it -- perhaps this tomato was a bit more mellow than the last one. Aunt Ruby's German Green was very nice.

But, oh my God, everyone's favorite, including me, was Porkchop. These tomatoes weren't the Porkchop I had tried before, these were stupendously good. Wow, just wow. There's life before Porkchop and life after Porkchop and life after Porkchop is heaven. Okay, I'm being melodramatic but yesterday's Porkchop tomatoes were the best tomatoes I've had in a couple of years. This goes on our "must have" list. Now I get it!

Matt's Wild Cherry has reached over 500 harvested tomatoes.

A Coyote tomato is maturing.

My wife told me that she processed enough tomatoes to make 23 cups of tomato puree! 

Harvested Red Zebra and Aunt Ruby's German Green(3)!

Today's harvest includes 32 Matt's Wild Cherry, 21 Snow White, 9 Husky Cherry Red(1), 8 Husky Cherry Red(2), 5 Black Seaman(2), 5 Haley's Purple Comet, 4 Golden Mama, 4 SunGold(1), 4 Garden Peach, 3 Cassidy's Folly, 3 Sweet Carneros Pink, 3 SunSugar, 3 Green Grape, 3 Jaune Flamme, 2 German Orange Strawberry (8.5 ounces), 2 Yellow Brandywine (12.5 ounces, 12.5 ounces), 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 2 Black Krim(1), 2 Orange And Green Zebra, 2 Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, 2 Australian Giant Oxheart (6.5 ounces), Red Zebra (was Black Zebra) (new), Aunt Ruby's German Green(3) (10 ounces) (new), Indian Stripe, Porkchop (8 ounces), Honkin' Big Black Cherry, Stupice, Large Pink Anna, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye and Southern Night for a total of 130 tomatoes.

The Black Zebra matured but came up red with striping. So I'm taking an educated guess that it's Red Zebra. The on line tomato spreadsheet will be adjusted to the new name.

The Aunt Ruby's German Green harvested didn't look mature in the shoulders but the tomato definitely felt ready. We'll see when we taste it.

I spent a little extra time during the harvest to tie up some wayward branches and add several stakes to prop up drooping plants.

I've added fertilizer to the container plants in the back yard. 

Harvested Hungarian Heart!

No harvest yesterday.

Today's harvest includes 25 Matt's Wild Cherry, 10 Husky Cherry Red(2), 10 Husky Cherry Red(1), 8 Haley's Purple Comet, 8 Snow White, 8 Golden Mama, 6 SunGold(1), 4 Bloody Butcher, 4 Orange And Green Zebra, 4 Sweet Carneros Pink, 4 Garden Peach, 3 Southern Night, 3 Stupice, 3 SunSugar, 3 Porkchop (7 ounces), 3 Black Krim(1), 2 Black Seaman(2), 2 Green Zebra(2) (not Green Zebra), 2 Pink Berkeley Tie Dye (8 ounces), 2 German Orange Strawberry (6 ounces, 7.5 ounces), 2 Kellogg's Breakfast, 2 Jaune Flamme, Hungarian Heart (new), Green Doctors Kiwi(1) (not Green Doctor's Kiwi), Green Doctor's Kiwi(2), Big Zebra (7 ounces), Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, Chocolate Stripes(1), Yellow Brandywine (7.5 ounces), Paul Robeson(2), Portuguese Neighbor (11.5 ounces), Cassidy's Folly, Big White Pink Stripe (8 ounces), Persimmon (15.5 ounces) and Vorlon for a total of 131 tomatoes.

When you miss a day of harvest you would think that the next day would be near double the total amount. In practice, that's not the case. When you harvest on a daily basis, the water brought up by the roots is then placed to the other maturing tomatoes. If you miss a day, the already mature tomatoes get some of that water and the near mature tomatoes don't mature as rapidly.

The harvested Hungarian Heart has a bit of a deformity and that's why it matured quicker. There are some good large tomatoes growing on this plant coming soon.
My wife pulled five plants last night -- Aunt Ruby's German Green(2), Black And Brown Boar, Jaune Coeur de Pigeon and the two volunteers.

Pink Berkeley Tie Dye and Michael Pollan Tomatoes -- Two Thumbs Up!

Today's harvest includes 22 Matt's Wild Cherry, 12 Snow White, 10 Husky Cherry Red(2), 7 Garden Peach, 7 Haley's Purple Comet, 6 Husky Cherry Red(1), 6 Golden Mama, 5 Southern Night (9 ounces, 6.5 ounces, 8 ounces), 4 Orange And Green Zebra, 4 SunSugar, 3 Pink Berkeley Tie Dye (7.5 ounces, 8.5 ounces), 3 Black Seaman(2), 3 SunGold(1), 2 Paul Robeson(2) (9 ounces, 7 ounces), 2 Stupice, 2 Sweet Carneros Pink, 2 Green Grape, 2 Jaune Flamme, German Orange Strawberry (11 ounces), Vorlon (7 ounces), Green Zebra(1), Porkchop (8 ounces), Yellow Brandywine (6.5 ounces), Large Pink Anna(2) (6 ounces), Kellogg's Breakfast (7 ounces), Cassidy's Folly, Australian Giant Oxheart (19 ounces) and Portuguese Neighbor (13.5 ounces) for a total of 112 tomatoes.

We tried Michael Pollan last night and it was quite good. I cut up a Pink Berkeley Tie Dye and placed the slices over an egg white omelette. The combination was great!

Harvested Yellow Brandywine!

Today's harvest includes 46 Matt's Wild Cherry, 18 Husky Cherry Red(2), 14 Snow White, 11 SunSugar, 11 Husky Cherry Red(1), 10 Black Krim(1) (7 ounces, 11 ounces), 8 Haley's Purple Comet, 7 Golden Mama, 6 SunGold(1), 6 Bloody Butcher, 6 Large Pink Anna(2) (6 ounces, 6 ounces), 5 Southern Night (6 ounces, 6 ounces, 6 ounces), 4 Black Seaman(2), 4 Sweet Carneros Pink, 4 Lime Green Salad, 3 Green Grape, 3 Black Krim(2), 3 Black And Brown Boar, 3 Vorlon (6.5 ounces, 6 ounces), 3 Garden Peach, 2 Kellogg's Breakfast (10.5 ounces), 2 Jaune Flamme, 2 Quedlinburger Fruehe Liebe, 2 Jaune Coeur de Pigeon, 2 Crimson Cushion (11 ounces, 11 ounces), 2 Orange And Green Zebra, 2 Patio, 2 Cassidy's Folly, 2 Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red, 2 Indian Stripe, Yellow Brandywine (12 ounces) (new), Husky Gold, Stupice, German Orange Strawberry (9 ounces) and Porkchop (8 ounces) for a total of 200 tomatoes.

Well, so much for Matt's Wild Cherry topping out. Today's harvest total was bigger than yesterday's, though by total poundage yesterday's was clearly greater than today.

Today was the first RockfordFest down at Paradise Cove. I spent all day looking at old Firebirds and hanging at Paradise Cove. Several behind the scenes people came and spoke highly of James Garner and the show's atmosphere. My wife and I brought tomatoes from yesterday's and today's harvest which were liked by all.

And that's why today's post is late. I'm sunburned!

Pulled Five Tomato Plants

Today's harvest includes 2 Piccolos, 2 Old Ivory Eggs and Evan's Italian Plum.

My wife noted last night that our Manchester Terrier has gotten thinner. I've noticed how a lot of the smaller tomatoes are disappearing, such as Stupice, Salisaw Cafe and Italian Market Wonder. I remember tomatoes on all of these plants and suddenly there are few or none.

I also found three caterpillars, one on Pierce's Pride, one on Salisaw Cafe and one on Green Grape. None were full sized.

We also had several tomato plants pulled this morning. Gone are Jaune Flamme, Yellow Brandywine – Platfoot Strain (which means we got zero tomatoes from this plant), Black From Tula, Zhezha (back yard) and the Zhezha in the container.