Well folks, I’ll state the obvious; it’s summer. Hot. Humid. Sticky. Muggy. My favorite time of year. And, we are in a battle with the squirrels. For our tomatoes. This is where I have a love/hate relationship with the, as some call them, “tree rats.”
Remember “Nubby?” That is, the “Notorious Nubby?” Yeah, that’s him, one of the culprits.
Even he has betrayed us and joined in the fray. For the tomatoes. Even he is hated when he’s hanging upside down from the support stake we’ve carefully pounded into the ground to protect our bounty. I’ve heard they hate tomatoes. And maybe it’s true, because they take one bite and then discard it as if it didn’t meet their rodent culinary tastes. And that ruins it for us – almost.
What to do, what to do? What could possibly be better than slicing up one of those succulent red, juicy tomatoes for a salad, or slathering two slices of white bread with mayo (You have to have Duke’s brand) and then layering on one of those warm, just off the vine red tomatoes under a heavy sprinkling of salt/pepper?
This.
Fried green tomatoes. This is seriously good stuff. We had these last night along with the rest of our supper, and I feel vindicated. I just might go pull all the tomatoes off the vine just to 1)best the squirrels at their own game 2) have some more.
These are the easiest things to fix. Green tomatoes (2-3 large ones) Slice them. Dredge them in a mixture of flour/cornmeal/salt/pepper – heavy on salt/pepper, and then fry them in skillet. You’ll know when they’re just right because they become tender. Plus you want them crispy on the outside. When you bite into the first one – right out of the pan – you’re in for a pleasant surprise.
So, not all is lost.
Back to the revisions/edits for the current WIP, while keeping one beady eye on the vines.
Up hee’ya in CT our tomatoes are the size of cherries, not as in cherry tomatoes but as in imature. Can’t wait to fry up those babies when they get big. The weather as you describe it is what we have right now, ugh, I WANT SNOW.
Ha! I do the “hee’ya” as “heah.” Come heah, you heathen squirrel. Snow? U r crazy.
Ah snow, a white pristine blanket of quiet, deadening commerce and slowing down the hub-bub of the everyday. The sound of snow shovels just after dawn, hands warming around steaming cups of cocoa, laughter as the explanation point at the bottom of a hill after long slide. The familiar bite of below zero and the hum of the furnace in the middle of the night.
Ha…a day off without pay, aching back, numb fingers, watery brown liquid, exhaustion from walking up the hill, coats and cloths soaked to the skin, frostbite and the price of heating-oil at over 4.10 a gallon, yup, I’m fucking nuts. Crank the AC and bring me an ice cold beer…and I don’t even drink beer.
My wife leave a bitten tomato in a prominent place around our plants. That seems to deter the squirrels from biting more. Maybe something to do with them seeing and remembering they don’t like tomatoes?
Really? It works? Maybe our squirrels are stupid. I watched one clutching one of the smaller cherry tomatoes, twirling it around in his little thieving paws and gnawing like there was no tomorrow. He seemed to like it – a lot.
YUM!!!