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No green tomatoes: Bashir is a gentleman farmer
By Liz Palika
September 2, 2010
This morning, while out in the backyard picking ripe tomatoes, Bashir was standing right next to me, studying me. As I reached down to pick a tomato, he would reach his head forward, sniff the tomato I was picking, and then when I put it in the bowl he just watched.
After three or four times of this, he reached forward and sniffed a green tomato. I said, “Nope. That one’s not ripe.”
He sniffed a different one. I said, “Good boy, that one is ripe.” I picked that one and gave it to him. He took it very gently and ate; he knows what tomatoes are and likes them.
As I continued to pick, he continued to watch and I could see he was thinking hard. He nosed another green one, “Nope.” He indicated a ripe one, “Yes.” I gave it to him.
Ah ha! The brain cells were burning! He didn’t indicate another green one and pointed out only the ripe ones. I had to laugh because he figured it out just that quickly. I love it!
Now Archer, on the other hand, just reaches in and picks his own. I don’t mind; I always plant lots of tomatoes. But Bashir works so hard to please me and be polite.
Image: My tomatoes!
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I had a foster Aussie once who used to pick her own tomatoes too. Silly old Skye! :)
Comment by Janice in GA — September 2, 2010 @ 2:04 pm
Aren’t they lovely? The orange ones are heirloom orange cherry tomatoes and the yellow ones are yellow grape tomatoes. The yellow ones are amazingly sweet and Bashir’s new favorite.
Me? I don’t eat’em. Catsup is fine; spaghetti sauce is fine. But I can’t stand the seeds. So I grew them for everyone else.
Comment by Liz Palika — September 2, 2010 @ 2:05 pm
I love tomatoes and eat them as if they are an apple. I love all kinds, the variety is amazing. Right down the road from me is the tomato capital of the United States, Immokalee.
However, the same place is also a slavery-type environment for migrant workers.
I work with our local Domestic Animal Services and they have a satellite animal control building in Immokalee. Often our animal control officers drive between Immokalee and Naples to care for and distribute animals for adoption.
I buy tomatoes from all over: farmer markets, Fresh Market, Publix, Whole Foods and Luisa’s finds, as I call them. Luisa, my mother-in-law drives all over Southwest Florida and brings over ‘the best’ tomatoes she finds (it is very important for an Italian grandmother to share with her grandkids what is a “good tomato.”)
I love to read about and taste home grown veggies and fruits. There is such a different taste to them. I hope my kids (and dogs! I will let Roxi try one now) appreciate the effort which goes into growing produce. I also want them to understand the issues facing our region regarding terrible living conditions for workers in Immokallee. When I owned Naples Dog Magazine we donated to http://www.immokaleefoundation.org/
which is a wonderful cause.
Sad, but accurate article from Gourmet:
http://www.gourmet.com/magazin.....f-tomatoes
Comment by ericka — September 2, 2010 @ 3:09 pm
I just picked a basket that looks exactly like this bowl. They are all in the dryer right now.
Apparently a groundhog also has the power of finding ripe tomatoes. I may have to stake a dog out to wait for him. Also, he’s going to get a bunch of non-viable rotten turkey eggs rolled down his front door tonight.
Gotta move more of the garden closer to the house.
Comment by H. Houlahan — September 2, 2010 @ 3:20 pm
Dog feces! I chased away several gophers by burying dog feces down their hole in the garden. Of course, Riker and Bashir each caught a gopher each, too, but the gophers underground don’t know that so it’s no deterant.
Comment by Liz Palika — September 2, 2010 @ 3:24 pm
I’m quite jealous of your harvest! I love those little yellow ones. If my Sad Little Garden of 2010 had seen temps warm enough for cherry or grape tomatoes to actually grow, Nicky would help just like Bashir.
Nicky and Opie also are the resident blackberry testers. I’ve seen them put their mouths around the berries and if they don’t pop off with just the right gentle tug, they will carefully release the berry, leaving it on the branch to ripen in a few days. Same with salal berries. Must be something about the sugar content that let’s their noses know that the berries are just about ready.
Comment by Melinda — September 2, 2010 @ 3:25 pm
Heather, I have to ask;
Are the rotten eggs just out of spite (ala “take this you rotten groundhog!”), or are they proven to vacate the premises due to said eggs???
Pretty hilarious either way.
Comment by Liz — September 2, 2010 @ 3:48 pm
Very cool, Liz!
Comment by Susan — September 2, 2010 @ 3:51 pm
I’d love a harvest like that (not to mention a dog like Bashir).
Comment by David S. Greene — September 2, 2010 @ 4:35 pm
@Liz:
Groundhogs are very sanitary animals — they have separate areas in their tunnels for bathrooms and they don’t like waste products in their regular living areas.
Basically, people put down the holes what they have that is nasty to convince the groundhog to move on — rotten eggs, peeing in a cup and tossing it down the hole, dog feces and/or used cat litter will all horrify the groundhog and it will move elsewhere.
Sometimes, “elsewhere” isn’t that far away, so one needs to dump more nasty stuff down the new holes, but if one keeps at it, the groundhog will move far enough way not to be a bother anymore.
Comment by Dorene — September 2, 2010 @ 5:32 pm
Dorene is correct, but it’s also just kind of satisfying rolling the eggs down there and hearing them explode and thinking about the little #@!&* who likes to take one bite out of each low-hanging tomater.
Also, it’s really hard to dispose of bad eggs. I don’t really want to put them in the regular trash, especially if it’s four or five days until pick-up. The compost heap is right out. Pitch ‘em into the woods and the dogs will find them. Our soil is rocky, so it’s hard to bury them deep. Yet here is this convenient, very deep hole, right here in the hayfield …
Apparently Pip isn’t fast enough to reliably catch the smaller ones any more. She’s gotten one big fat one this year, and the long-established holes nearer the house have been vacant since we moved here, but the youngsters are making holes in the outlying areas and surviving the boogeypip. Maybe it’s just too hot to hunt.
Cole is really good at finding the holes and showing them to me, though.
Comment by H. Houlahan — September 2, 2010 @ 8:33 pm