Thank you for visiting the Solanum Singalong. Here you’ll find updates on many things Solanaceae, mostly Solanum, from our research gardens to recipes to stories and tales. Some articles may be whimsical, some scientific, some brief, some long. Come by and have a nice virtual sit in the garden.
So long, and thanks for all the Fish…
The summer of 2025 has receded into a dream, even though the unlikely extended warm growing season had tomatoes being harvested into late October and pumpkins growing up trees and forming fruit picked in November.
This will be the last post here at TGTW. The site will remain up for a few months and then be removed, so if there’s some really fascinating tidbit of info now’s the time to find it.
Best wishes for a healthy and safe 2026!
Eat well,
grow the table,
don’t build walls.
The Tomato Woman
We interrupt this program for an announcement
It has been several years and a State away since the last post on this site, and it’s only fair that, for any folks that are actually still out there reading this, some info be given.
When we started this journey in 2012, our thoughts had been to combine the ecological plant protection techniques with some molecular biology and some community service to help people grow more food, without the physical issues that in-ground planting brings. Between time issues (people working multiple jobs, having multiple responsibilities) and body issues (people with time not having the physical capacity for the type of labor a traditional garden requires), we found that we could get a lot of food in a little space with minimal pain once the system was installed. We’ve looked at supporting local food producers and finding creative ways to use as much food as possible from our gardens and local food producers.
We recognize that there is a certain amount of privilege required to accomplish any of these things: while we agree that local food producers should be well compensated for the food they bring to market, it is only people with enough income or those with enhanced- SNAP benefits (from the local farmer’s market organizers) that can actually afford to purchase enough to feed a family. One of the reasons TGTW grows their own food is because of this financial restraint. TGTW is fortunate to have a small area that has enough sun to grow food and a landlord amenable to such; this is also a privilege that many people do not have. Community gardens are often too expensive for people to participate in, which is why things like “plant a row” for others is important work.
Given all of that, TGTW has come to the point in the last 13 years where making progress on these goals relies heavily on an abundance of personal income or the grace of investors. The last years have been overly challenging in terms of creating balance and growing the interest of polyculture high raised community-based gardens, and so the decision has been made to Make a Decision.
What does that mean? We have moved our domain to a new service provider, with a three year contract. By the end of the summer of 2025, we are committed to deciding what role TGTW will have in our (hopefully) final location in the Northern Tundra of MN. Our NY locations have been dormant for several years now, and as we get older, the realization that physical and financial limitations are such that reviving them is not a viable solution. By the end of Dec 2025, we will decide on the format of any electronic communication (this blog, in particular).
Thanks for all of the support shown in the past,
grow well!
The Great Tomato Woman
One early morning at the Farmers’ Market in August
This week, in an attempt to gain control over time (bwahahahaha), the Farmers’ Market visit took place as soon as possible – so the early arrival at 0710 was pretty impressive. There were still quite a few people there, but the lines were not so oppressive as the temps were low. This week, the goal was to find out how much a bushel of tomatoes might be (and no, $3.50/lb for a bushel is not a realistic option), to get a slew of seconds peaches, see what apples might be around, and check the Special Deal at Moore Family homes in an attempt to stock up the freezer. Of those goals, one was met. More on that later. Visit summary first:
- Tilapia and a lettuce sampler from the Amazing Koss family farms. She had single portions of fish, or large packs; for two people, the single portion works out best. Could not decide which of the amazing leafy things to get, so picked up a sampler pack. Variety amongst the salad lunches.
- Donut peaches and yellow peaches from the ‘seconds’ and ‘low price closeout’ area, the intent was to can them. But the donut peaches must have been picked green, because they were still hard, and the skins wouldn’t come off, so instead of canning, they have been frozen. The others were perfect ripeness for canning in halves.
- The Deal of the Week from Moore Family Farms was a 2-packages mix-match of stew meat, kabob meat, and something else which has completely slipped from the brain. Got stew meat and kabob meat, and a couple packs of the marvelous maple breakfast sausage.
- Someone had black Krim and other heirloom tomatoes, spent a little time talking to the farmer about the Black Krim and how she had tomato hornworms that LOVED the black Krims. I ended up getting a mixed assortment of small snacking tomatoes.
- Talked to the good people at Koller Family farms about tomatoes by the bushel, but I suspect they’ll want too much money as they sell at the market for $1.50/lb. That’s an $80 investment for 18 quarts of tomatoes…um, no. Picked up some fresh spring onions from them, though.
- Roth family farms provided some red potatoes. Yes. We love potatoes.
So what is happening with all of this food? Well, in actuality, it isn’t that much food. The donut peaches ended up in the freezer – these things are actually really really good baked. The other peaches ended up in Weck cylinder jars, looking lovely. The meat went to the freezer, although one of the packages of stew meat will be used in beef barley stew in a couple of days, just to see what it’s like. Tomatoes, onions, and lettuce end up being salads, if the tomatoes last – they’re perfect little snacks. The onions are great roasted after covering in olive oil and some seasoning.
Back to the Goals of the day – tried some apples at Weinzierl Fruit, St Edmunds Russet, but they weren’t good storage apples. Nice people, though, and good prices on the apples. Maybe in a couple of months, when Arkansas Black is available, will the big apple purchase happen.
End of July Farmers’ Market
This week, the Farmers’ Market was quite busy by 815 A. M., but the lines for the most popular sellers were not as long as usual. In a twist of fate, no produce was purchased from these farmers. This week’s jaunt was really intended to replenish salad, find some cantaloupe, and talk to some of the favorites. It seems that green onion bulb season is petering out, as many of the vendors were selling regular sized, dried-outer-layer onions in various colors. The following items were purchased:
- Peaches! from Mileur orchard; this week they had “donut” peaches, which are a fun, flat shape. They had white and yellow-orange, and shared that the yellow-orange were a traditional peach flavor, whereas the white was much sweeter. Two bags of ‘seconds’ peaches were also acquired, with the information that these are now free-stone. And, indeed, they were: Nine jars of sliced peaches, and four bottles of spiced peach juice were produced from them.
- Thai Basil was obtained from Green G Farm, which smelled so wonderful that a craving for Thai food began to develop.
- Meyer Produce had a cash-only lane for melons and tomato purchases only; as a result, two cantaloupes were acquired after a short discussion with the farmer about how to select ‘a good one’, in which the farmer shared that these melons were ready to eat when they released from the vine. A short commentary on the mystery of how the melons in the store were harvested followed.
- While Joyful Wren had sold out of all of their eggs, they did have new potatoes and various herbs. Lemongrass was purchased, as that Thai food craving noted above continued to gain ground! Today was Joyful Wren’s last day at the outdoor market, but they do have a farm stand and we exchanged information for orders later in the year. The lemongrass will form part of the basis for Tom yum/kha soups, as well as some lemongrass jellies for snack time.
- A couple of bunches of green onion bulbs were obtained from Koller Family Farms.
- The replenishment of lettuce was managed by acquiring the Sampler pack from Kountry Fresh / Koss Family Farms, mainly because all of their lettuce varieties are wonderful, and making a decision as to one or two was just not in the cards for today.
While the items that were purchased today weren’t as varied or as great a quantity as other weeks, they contributed to nine jars of canned peach slices, four liters of mulled spiced peach juice, five lunch salads, two Thai soups, fruit for at least a week’s worth of lunches/breakfasts, and many potato dishes, including baked/roasted flowering potatoes, french fries, boiled baby potatoes with thai basil, salt, and butter, and more yet to be prepared. The Thai basil was used in several meals, beverages, and root propagated so as to have a steady source of Thai basil in future. The lemongrass also was used in multiple ways: after simmering in a large pot of water, the resulting liquid was used for Thai soup, some made into jellies, and some canned for future use.
Farmers’ Market Haul, 09 Jul 2022
The weather in the area has been quite warm and humid, with storms building and finally arriving yesterday. The result of this is that this morning, the temps were much cooler and the humidity lower. In practical terms, it meant that it was much easier to breathe as TGTW opened the door and stepped out to make the trip to the Farmers’ Market. The general feeling among the vendors, farmers, artists, and consumers present this morning was one of relief, with commentary about the lovely weather this morning being an overarching theme of conversation.
Today’s haul was fruit-heavy. This is because the Mileur Orchard farmers had seconds available, both in peaches and in nectarines. Seconds are a great way to support a local farmer and yet be easy on the budget. Sauces, chutneys, juices, and jams do not require picture-perfect fruit. These seconds are small and have interesting shapes, but the flavor is out of this world. They also had small apples available. Many of the apples will be dried. Dried apples can be used in granola, muesli, tea blends, tisane blends, and as a single-note tisane. A hot apple tea in the autumn is a marvelous thing, and easy to prepare: Add boiling water to the dried apples, let sit ~10 minutes, and decant. TGTW will also be drying peaches and nectarines and using them in the same ways.
One of the vendors, Meyer Produce, had small cherry tomatoes and blackberries. Some of the nice things about the smaller tomatoes are that they are a nice snack, have a full flavor punch, and are easy to portion. Larger tomatoes are great when canning, slicing for sandwiches, and salads, but if a household is watching their food budget, sometimes only half a large tomato is used, and the rest put in the fridge for later. Tomatoes taste best when stored at room temperature, but leaving a half-used tomato out is not plausible option – although the fruit flies, post-harvest pathogens (aka molds) do love a left-on-the-counter-overnight tomato. The beautiful color of Meyer’s tomatoes was outshone by the full flavor profile; a great investment. Salad toppings, taco toppings, bruschetta (yes, a bit of a pain with a small tomato but with bruschetta, lots of flavor makes the best end result). The blackberries were a bit of an impulse purchase, because they are tasty, but some will be dried and used in a blackberry, sage, rosemary, and black tea blend experiment.
The Amazing Kountry Fresh / Koss Farms people had basil available today, which is driving the bruschetta conversation. They have packets of green and purple basil; TGTW prefers the purple for bruschetta, but the idea of making a small amount of pesto has come to mind. TGTW is not a fan of pine nuts, mostly because they aren’t used enough to make having them around until they go rancid (which they will, quickly, even in the refrigerator). However, pesto can be made with any sort of nut, or nutty thing, so that’s not a limitation – think peanuts, sunflower seeds, pistachios, peppitas, toasted dals/ split beans or peas. This time around, the sampler pack called – each of these lettuces has a different flavor, and a chef’s salad with multiple lettuce varieties is a treat.
Today the Joyful Wren Farmers had small eggs. They also had garlic! TGTW has been meaning to try to make Scotch Eggs, but the small eggs are preferred for this. Scotch eggs pack a huge protein punch, and a bit of a crunchy-decadent punch, so the idea of using small eggs for a smaller treat is quite intriguing.
Twin Acres Farms had some absolutely inviting onions. In fact, they reached out from across the walkway and called to TGTW, a bit of a siren call from onion to onion lover. They are a lovely purple-red spring onion and will be put to good use. Quickly. Lately TGTW has been roasting spring onions – cut in half and toss or brush with olive oil and whatever seasonings appeal. Bake at 400 deg F for about an hour. The outside will caramelize and the inside will be soft and sweet. Alternatively, throw on the grill and cover while cooking.
We’d hoped to get some chicken thighs from Moore Family Farm, but they were sold out! Good on them. Sad for me. Thankfully Triple S Farms had some; their chicken is always tasty. Another round steak from Triple S for the freezer made its way into the bag as well – last week, Mongolian Beef was made with this. Marinaded overnight, the meat is tasty and tender in stir fries. Especially – tasty.
Farmers’ Market Haul, 2 Jul 2022
The Urbana Farmers’ Market has a great selection of farmers, producers, artists, food trucks, and even musicians at various corners of the Market. The Market participates in LINK match, which means that, for up to $20 in EBT/Food Stamps, an additional 2x in value is given to the shopper for use on fresh fruits, vegetables, fungi, herbs. TGTW supports a fair price for produce to local, family farmers and producers, but in the real world of socioeconomics, this puts fresh, healthy food out of reach for many people. The Link matching program makes it possible for people with limited financial means to obtain fresh produce at the Farmers’ Market.
This week, the following items were obtained:
- Eggs from The Joyful Wren. Not only are their eggs delicious, they are beautiful. They also are easy on the digestive tract!
- Round Steak from Triple S farms. Great for Rouladen, stir fry, tartar – the flavor is wonderful.
- Pork Sausage and sausage links from Moore Family Farm. Moore Family Farm was recommended to TGTW by a veterinarian colleague, who asserted that their animals were well cared for – “They do animal husbandry right”. Because of this, TGTW likes to support them by purchasing from them. They also have a great vegetable selection!
- Tilapia and lettuces from Kountry Fresh Farms / Koss Family Farms. The tilapia is so fresh, as is the lettuces. A favorite is panang curry style tilapia!
- Peaches and nectarines from Mileur Orchard – today, we were able to get ‘seconds’ peaches. These are just as tasty but smaller or funny shaped; sauces, leathers, canned chunks are all great ways to preserve these for a taste of summer later in the year. Nectarines were also available, for a “fuzz free” experience.
- Red and white spring onions from Sola Gratia, a local farm which grows for local soup kitchens and charities providing fresh produce to folks.
- A couple of interesting-sounding jams from Tiger Gardens. TGTW uses jams as a sort of “instant smoothie/lassie” component, as well as summer time flavored iced teas.
- New potatoes, both red and white, from Roth Produce.
- Dill and pickles from Green G Farm. Oddly, TGTW hadn’t thought of making pickles with this until … well, just now.
So, what to do with all this food?
The meat will go into the freezer for the time being, but usually the round steak is made into Rouladen or used in stir fry; mushroom beef or mongolian beef is a popular around the dinner table. The ground pork is great in Wedding soup, but TGTW has been meaning to try making Scotch Eggs. Sometimes the Joyful Wren has small eggs, which would be nice for that attempt! But today, they were out of them – an egg is a perfect protein pack, and as such, a lot of eggs are cooked and consumed. Joyful Wren eggs are so beautiful, that our Artistic Side (VFP-McFergies) uses them for some of the art that they do! Tilapia is a really nice, light fish that poaches quickly and easily (and can be overcooked easily as well); the top favorites are Thai Style – panang curry, guiness and cream, white wine, and hard apple cider.
The peaches have so many potential uses – dried, leathered, canned, made into sauces, chutneys, juices. And then there is always ‘eating over the sink dripping down your face and hands’!
Potatoes! Spring onions! Roasted, toasted, fried, buttered, herbed, mashed… TGTW loves potatoes and onions.
So the obvious missing element is .. tomatoes. The last time TGTW purchased tomatoes from the Farmers’ Market, they were pretty but didn’t have much flavor. This is anathema to TGTW. There are several varieties budding on the balcony, so rather than tasteless large tomatoes, we’ll just be waiting for our Very Local heirloom babies to produce.
Farmers’ Market Stash of the Week – 21 May 22
Arriving at the Farmers’ Market this morning, the parking lots were full and people were milling about in good measure. Here is the list (also pictured above):
- Rhubarb (Avery)
- Asparagus (Avery)
- Mixed Greens (Avery)
- Purple Basil (Koss Kountry Fresh)
- Summer Crisp Lettuce (Koss Kountry Fresh)
- Cilantro (Sola Gratia)
- Dillweed (Sola Gratia)
- Daikon Radish (Twin Acre)
- Scallions (Twin Acre)
- Purple and Gold Cauliflower (Cary’s Garden of Eatin’)
- Spring Onions (Ochoa)
- Chestnut Mushrooms (Flyaway)
Avery Farms Rhubarb Goodness
Avery Farms, in Penfield IL, brought some marvelous rhubarb to the Urbana Farmers’ Market this last weekend. This was thrilling, as obtaining some rhubarb was the primary purpose for this week’s venture to the market. Not only did the farmer provide a couple pounds of rhubarb, but some great conversation about expanding rhubarb production and demand took place.
When the plan to obtain rhubarb was made on Friday night, the original thought was to make rhubarb soup and rhubarb meringue pie. During a visit to Iceland, a friend taught the GTW how to make rhubarb soup, as well as her method for rhubarb jam (easy peasy: chop up your rhubarb, weigh, and add as much sugar as rhubarb into a pan. Cook on low until the consistency desired, jar, and store). Rhubarb soup was something new, and is also easy: Add water, rhubarb and sugar to a pan and simmer until the rhubarb is soft. This can be served warm or cold.
Rhubarb meringue pie has always been a treat for those of use in the Midwest, and when in Germany, colleagues provided a sack of rhubarb in exchange for a pie. It was nice to know that we shared this love! It also turned out that Mirabelle plums can be used in place of rhubarb for later-season tortes with much the same marvelous result. So when the thought of eating a rhubarb meringue torte came along, it was tempting – oh, so tempting. But then reality set in. At the moment, there are not a slew of colleagues waiting for a tea-time treat. The current roommates are as thrilled with rhubarb as TGTW is with zucchini (read as: Not at All). So once the rhubarb was unpacked, the pie did not seem to be as good of an idea, from a practical standpoint. So, what’s a thrifty plant biologist to do? Dry it, of course!
Drying rhubarb is much like drying celery. In this case, though, the blanching step was omitted and the rhubarb was cut into long strips and treated more like an apple. Dried rhubarb can be used for later jams, jellies, and accents in other baking delights, or as a nice addition to a tea blend. Since TGTW does not have a mandoline, the ceramic blade had to do. Of course, this meant that some slices were not uniform, which was fine, because they all went into the rhubarb soup. Placed onto the racks, the slices were dried at 135 deg F for 9-12 hours (until they snapped, nice and dry).
Sadly, the craving for the pie has not diminished. Maybe next week some more rhubarb will have to be picked up and the pie made anyway. We only live once!
Meals from The Box
Yup, you heard that right. The second edition of TGTW’s favorite food from the box is in production! Those of you that have been long time followers know that we offered a short booklet on favorite recipes and tomato processing tips as a “Perk” from our IndiGoGO fundraiser. The second edition includes some background information on the Great Box Plots as well as a new chapter of recipes and tips for the non-tomato produce that we tend to grow in our 9×9 plots. Stay tuned!
Elderflower Excitement
I am just so excited. I’m really fortunate in that there are a couple Elder plants on the property I’m staying at; usually we cover the plants when they start to make berries so that there will be enough for making an amazing elderberry syrup for winter time. However, people seem to forget that elderflower is also a pretty wonderful tonic.
One thing I became seriously hooked on in Germany was a beverage that contained elderflower infusion, apple cider vinegar, lemon rind, green tea, and cane sugar. It’s consumed cold and has carbonated water in it. I’ve managed to duplicate it using honey, as well as using still water. It’s delicious on a hot summer day, chilled.
So the other day, we were discussing whether I wanted elderberries this year, since we have a lot in the freezer. I realized that for the first time, i was in time to actually harvest the flowers! So I cut a boxfull, racked them, dried them, and ended up with a honey jar full. They are tiny and they dry tinier, but I’m happy with what I have. The birds can have some berries from the branches I was too late to get to before they started making fruit, and the bigger tree might yet give us berries to share.
Elderflower tea, made with elderflowers, lemon rind, and sweetened with raw honey, is a really comforting thing when the cold and flu season arrives. It’s an astringent, meaning that it will dry you out, so if a person is retaining water elderflower can be useful when used carefully.