I love tomatoes. David loves tomatoes. Following the blackberry extravaganza of September, it should be no surprise that we’re now in the full throes of torrential tomatoes! It started with our new friend Sharon. She was staying aboard a nearby boat at anchor and well, she’s got tomatoes on the vine at her home in nearby Rio Vista. Periodically we’ve gotten bags of what we call “Sharon Tomatoes” which are yummy with vinegar and oil, as a tomato/mayo sandwich, in another salad, or any way we can think of preparing them.

Sharon is the source of our tomatoes even if she didn’t grow all the ones we’re now eating. Why? We also happen to be anchored where there’s a huge field of tomatoes across the levy road from us. A few days back, the farmer who owns the tomatoes saw Sharon on the road (I think she was taking pictures of his field of tomatoes…) and told her he’d be harvesting the ones right across from our anchored boats in…oh, about an hour. Sharon reported back to all: There’s tomato picking going to happen AND we can pick up fallen ones after they’ve gone through. So, of course, Sharon was ready with cameras and a bag for fallen tomatoes shortly thereafter.

Wow, there are A LOT of tomatoes on those vines. Amazing. Here are just a couple pictures of the picking that I took following Sharon’s “tomato alert”. These tomatoes are ones sold for soups so says the farmer. And, taste-wise, they’re not as good eaten fresh as the authentic Sharon Tomatoes. In a soup, pasta, chili or other cooked dish, they’re wonderful. Not very acidic and quite meaty.