Another CSA pack out day goes down in the books this Tuesday, and again it was all about the tomatoes. My most cherished crop has come into full swing. This week we are packing both the golden nugget cherry tomatoes and the frederick red slicers. As I harvest the slicers, I marvel at the disparities between the indoor and outdoor toms. The plants in the greenhouse are so healthy and strong with altogether flawless fruit, while the unprotected vines turn brown and wilt, producing a stressed out looking tomato, covered in the wrinkles, cracks, and voids which attest to their hardship under the open sky. The pack out revolves around not crushing the fragile fruit. In an effort to use less plastic, we pack the cherry tomatoes in a paper based carton and seatbelt them into security under a firm bundle of kale. The delicate red slicers, of course, must go in last, like the bright red cherry on an ice cream sundae…but of vegetables. Safe travels, you aren’t going too far, the beauty of local food. 

~Joy