First Tomato

TOMATOES and TILAPIA
Today, we sliced into our first tomato! Pretty late for a first greenhouse tomato, due to our June 26 planting date.  Said tomato - a big Brandywine heirloom. My selected tasters said it was great, but my critical judgement says "it is pretty good, despite having grown up on nitrates, worm tea and seaweed fertilizer."  Then  Alister put some Marmite and avocado on toast and topped it with the tomato slice! Crazy delicious! (It's the New Zealand way to eat a tomaawwto.:)

The Tilapia are only just a little over an inch long, and reduced in numbers (as per last post), so they have provided the tomatoes with minimal fertilizer thus far, and the ecosystem in the growbeds won't be fully developed til next spring. So to me, this tomato is a thing of beauty! Since the fish are not very photogenic yet, you only get a photo of the tomato:

BEES
We've begun to eat our honey! Great chunky spoonfuls of it, globbing it all over fresh peaches, wax and all, drizzling it on artisan bread toasts with goat cheese, toasted hazelnuts and chopped rosemary. Also, I admit, there's a frame of honey sitting on the counter and we just dig at it with spoons whenever we want!

There was a price to pay for stealing honey from those bees. Jeff was meddling in the bee hive without a suit again and a bee stung him IN the nose! Here is Jeff, looking ridiculous and alarming. If you have ever seen Jeff before, I think you will agree. 

GRANT

We seem to fit more than enough of the criteria for a grant from the USDA (urban farm, water conservation, alternate energy, new farming technique, etc) so we are looking into that. If that materializes, look for some big growth around here! :) 

young greens ready to harvest

cucumber sandwiches for lunch

Meanwhile, I need to go tie up some tomatoes and plant some brassiccae seeds for winter!