Migrant Workers

As you can see from this photo, we have such a huge crop of tomatoes this year, that we have had to hire a gang of migrant workers to help with the harvest.

No, wait. That can’t be right. Like so many gardeners in Upstate NY, we have practically no tomatoes at all. The cold and rainy weather that we experienced for most of the summer resulted in an early “late blight”. We nearly always have some late blight, but usually by the time it gets here, we already have tons of tomatoes in the freezer, so while we hardly welcome it, it doesn’t have such a huge effect as it is this year. We are more fortunate than some – we might get a half bushel or so. From 24 plants. Gah. Most people around here won’t have any at all though. Still – that is the nature of gardening, to sometimes have to deal with adversity, due to the weather. I don’t like to think about what it was like 100 years ago if someone out here lost all of their tomatoes. At least I can buy them in the store through the winter – they just had to do without. I’m not even sure if people ate that many tomatoes 100 years ago, but they ate potatoes, and many people have lost all of those too. Larry got our potatoes in really early this year, so ours were ready to dig before the blight got them. But I digress. Wildly.

So, if this isn’t a picture of migrant workers, what is it exactly? It is our yard at the height of the stampede of relatives we had earlier this month! A huge camper, 2 tents, 6 extra dogs, 6 vehicles in the driveway, 11 people staying here with another 8 wandering in and out, and a shameful number of wine bottles in the recycling bin this week. It was good.

Now, I am off to work – after a month long vacation. How can that be anything but fun? Have a great day all!