Tomatoes in October!

First of all, does anyone else out there think it's strange that tomatoes are still available in late October?   As a novice in this area of the country and farming in general, maybe someone can clarify for me.  It just seems late in the season.

Regardless, I can't complain too much since I was able to get some incredible tomatoes the other day at a road side stand just outside of Greencastle PA.  I was about to pass it by, but there was a sign saying it was the last day of the season so I had to stop and see what they had.  I picked up two spaghetti squash, five tomatoes, a bag of small onions, and a variety of colorful peppers.

Of course, knowing that I needed to use the tomatoes right away, I immediately thought, salsa! Luckily I had some really fresh garlic from the Chambersburg farmer's market still left.

The tomatoes were perfectly ripe and a deep beautiful red inside.  I couldn't wait to taste them.

The salsa included

• 4 tomatoes roughly chopped
• 1 small onion diced
• 1 clove of garlic minced
• half a jalepeno pepper minced
• a handful of chopped cilantro 
• juice of a lime
• a pinch of salt

Ideally you would let this sit over night for the flavors to meld, but I just couldn't wait and I had a house guest watching me so there was no way this salsa would last more than a few minutes!  We both agreed, it was delicious!

As for shopping local, the lime and cilantro were from the grocery store and definitely not grown locally.  My hope is to get a small herb garden growing in the house since I don't have access to any outdoor space.  For more information on growing indoor herbs, this website seems quite helpful!

Natural Living Ideas

Hopefully a later post will include pictures of my new herb garden!

Happy salsa making!