Aug
11
Cooking Without Abundant Tomatoes
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Cory Ramey writes about how several chefs are Living Without Abundant Tomatoes on Mark Bittman’s Bitten blog this afternoon.
My own cooking tends to the tomato-heavy, and I’m looking for ways to cope with the dearth of fresh, organic tomatoes and the concomitant high prices I’m certain are on the way.
We’re still hopeful that our crop can be saved. I’m going out to check them again this evening. My Soap-Shield should be here by the end of the week and that’ll hopefully buy us some more time if we do get it.
Aug
10
Dan Barber, chef and co-owner of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, had an Op-Ed about Late Blight in The New York Times on Saturday. In it, he laments the crop loss and points to a possible way forward, embracing both science and nature where we can, and the revitalization of the agricultural extension offices Congress set up a century ago.
Aug
10
Fighting Late Blight
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Late blight — Phytophthora infestans — better known as the cause of the Irish potato famine of the 1850s, has spread throughout Pennsylvania.
Every other gardener and farmer I know is suffering from Late Blight and expects to lose, or has already lost, most, if not all, of their tomato crop. We’re closely monitoring our own plants.
I’ve heard from friends in Philipsburg who lost most of their plants and salvaged only a few dozen tomatoes. I’ve heard of one farmer who lost 300 plants in a day. One of the gardeners at Penn State’s Community Garden tells me late blight has wiped out nearly everyone’s tomatoes there, too. We’ve now heard that Full Circle Farms has been hit as well.
We’re all hoping the Farm Tour, with its record turnout, hasn’t spread the disease even further afield, but with that many people walking around and moving between farms it is almost unavoidable.
We’re still fortunate to have healthy plants in our own garden. I have nonetheless ordered a bottle of Soap-Shield copper fungicide from Gardens Alive to be applied as a preventative measure. Organic gardeners are strongly encouraged to apply this or something similar before we see any lesions.
