*See Monday evening breaking news below on tiny tomatoes*
Look, I made a mess in the kitchen grape jam. Everything is all cleaned up now, I think, and I have nine jars of jam cooling on the counter.
I’m sure some people are wondering what the big fuss is, anyone can make jam. But my family members reading this, who know I’m not much for cooking, are probably wondering what happened to me, what possessed me to make jam after all these years.
Grapes, that’s what happened, that’s what possessed me. Lots and lots of grapes. The birds didn’t eat them so I gave a bunch away, but I still had a bunch left, so I made jam. I’ll try some tomorrow to see how it tastes and find out if it “gelled” like it is supposed to. I feel pretty confident, in spite of this being my first batch of jam, that it will be blue ribbon quality, because canning is in my blood. Both of my grandmothers did a lot of canning.
Speaking of blue ribbons, on top of the jar in the center is my latest, and last, attempt to show that I indeed have the tiniest tomato of the year.
Even when it is sitting top of a dime, you can still read “one dime”.
It’s nearly lost in this thimble.
Congrats to all who posted about their tiny tomatoes, second place is pretty good, you get a nice tomato-red ribbon for second place, but clearly, this latest entry of mine is the winner. (Chuck, Christopher, Zoey, and Earth Girl). And I’ve heard that even Stuart approves of this competition because clearly we wouldn’t use any fertilizer to grow tomatoes as small as these.
*Update Monday evening.* All of us who think we have the tiniest tomato, we don’t. The clear winner is Chigiy, who has some red currant tomatoes that are really tiny. I think the rest of us are all tied for second place. Congrats, Chigiy!
Using words once spoken by the Governator of the great State of California, “I’ll be bock.”
P.S. Are you giving out grape jam to runners up in the Tiniest Tomato Contest, I mean, Ritual?
Well this has been very amusing and Carol you are indeed a winner!
I’m very impressed at your jam output, Carol. And at the fact that you had enough energy leftover to get the kitchen cleaned afterwards.
Oh-oh, you must have read my comment on Chuck’s blog about the tiniest tomato. I didn’t mean it! I was confused!
Well, I searched my vegetable garden looking for a tomato smaller than yours and didn’t find one…YET. I’m not giving up. LOL By the way, Canadian dimes are the same size as yours. I told you that just to make sure that was understood when I win.
😉
Send a couple of those jars of jams over so I can do a taste test. They sure look scrumptious ! I’ve canned a lot of jam and I know how much work it is.
That tiny tomato in the thimble is so cute and probably a very tasty morsel as well.
Carol, I’m very proud of you. You see, you can use a stove.
Carol, I’m so glad that you decided to do something with your wonderful grape harvest, rather than give it away to others. Now you really get to enjoy the fruits of your labor, that is unless of course you give all of your jam away, and I can see you doing that too. You are a very generous gardener. No wonder all the garden bloggers want you for their neighbor.
Congrats on the jam! I made jam and jelly…once. When we lived in WA, the blackberries were everywhere, just beautiful. So, I went to picking…and stopped, just in time, when I saw a SNAKE (yes, they do have some there…not bad ones, but yikes a snake…I guess he wanted some berries, too…he wins)…and backed out to see a policeman who informed me that I shouldn’t be picking there (I was on the side of a road…apparently a no no). No problem, sir, I was just running away!
Anyway, every jar that I gave away I made sure everyone knew it was a limited edition (not likely to occur again!)!
I’m sure yours will be wonderful!
Very cute about the tomatoes…I should have been paying attention as I have some teeny tiny Sungolds (the last ones in the cluster are always tiny)…I should have been holding out for your contest! Enjoyed the links and looking at all the others!
I’m impressed with anybody who does preserves! I am surrounded by relatives who do but I can’t foresee the day when I’ll be doing my own. Someday…
Nice tomatoes. That’s the kind of thing that can get kids excited about the garden!
That was a kind of smart alec compliment from Eleanor – Ha, ha!
I’m impressed with the jam, too.
Carol, my condolences – Chigiy’s sure showing us her tiniest tomatoes.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Yer, bring it on Carol. This might just be the answer to an “Incovenient Truth” – growing everything small rather than normal size.
Less water, less fertiliser and far more attention t detail. It could be like combining bonsai with hydroponics? Oui?
Chuck B… Sorry, no grape jam for second place. But I loved your presentation!
Christopher C. NC… Thank you, you also had a great post that tied in the tiny tomatoes with your construction project. Who knew they were related?
LostRoses… Don’t be too impressed, most of the pans are in the dishwasher, waiting to be washed. And, yes, you must have been confused!
Dirty Knees… See the update, I doubt you can win, but you might tie with the rest of us for 2nd place!
Carolyn Gail… It’s not going to be that easy to get some of my grape jam. I tasted it this morning for you. Yummy, if I do say so myself. And if you think my tomato in a thimble is cute, check out Chigiy’s 3 tomatoes in a thimble.
Eleanor… You are going to make people think I never cook on my stove!
Robin’s Nesting Place… Thank you for the kind words! So far, I’m keeping all my jam, but I might give a few jars of it to family.
Gotta Garden… Luckily, I’ve not found any snakes by the grapes, and I hope I never do!
Gardenista… Thank you, and I agree it is important to get the kids interested in gardening, as early as we can.
Annie in Austin… “Kind of” smart alec? No “kind of” about it! And that Chigiy did show us all up, I’ve never seen currant tomatoes. Now I’m even more glad I posted tiny tomatoes so I could find out about those.
Stuart… Perhaps, but we’ll might need to start downsizing our gardens, too!
Thanks all for the comments and remember next year… Tiny Tomatoes is the goal! (Unless I have good big tomatoes, then we’ll switch it up a bit.)
Carol at May Dreams Gardens