Marla, Thanks for the reply. I'm already 'working' all the short cuts I know for canning since I do a lot for my own family. I have a very large stash of jars, mostly picked up in my travels when I find them on sale, flea markets, yard sales, thrift stores. I keep adding and stashing :) We've had a few successful small business ventures, so I understand gross sales vs. the bottom line. It's unfortunate, but I've come to understand that when I do something I love to do, I can't expect to be paid as much for my time. That's the price you pay for not being a slave to somebody else's rules, and I think it's mostly worthwhile. The other thing is that we don't expect to make much profit for the first few years while we are learning what our new market customers want, and personally while we are building infrastructure on our property as our budget permits. That said, a lot of what we consider "value added" are the small steps our family has taken to make our microfarm more productive--deer fence, planting rows of berries and other fruits, expanding the range of things we're trying to grow and being creative about maximum use of the space we have, etc. In addition to selling products grown specifically for market plus our excess produce, we're expanding our own food base to keep from dependence on the grocery store. (Adding mushrooms, garlic this fall, chickens next spring...then hopefully bees). These are value added benefits that can't be measured as easily in dollars, but are precious nonetheless (as I'm sure most farmers would agree). We're also enjoying becoming more involved in our community, which is another "value added" benefit. I'm sure there are others, but this is moving too far off the original value added topic, so I'll stop blabbing now. Carrie

I use fermentation regardless of batch size. On the drying table right now are 30 little seeds from a variety I found growing by the road. It was one 2 inch round bright red globe - nearly perfectly round. I also just finished packing over 800 Cherokee Purple seeds from one batch. (Trudi!!!?? :>) -) I cut the larger tomatoes into thick slices and using the point of a very sharp knife, carefully cut the seed gel masses away from the meat of the fruit and into a strainer. The strainer is above a container which catches the juice. This allows me to put the remainder of the tomato into the dehydrator. The seeds which are still in the gel mass are then gently scrubbed against the screen of the strainer enough to break up the globs and catch more juice. Breaking up the globs like this, I feel gives the little "microbe critters" a head start, a thinner gel to dissolve, and a much better chance of getting their job done. I also think we have to stir the mixture often during fermentation to further help break up gel around the seeds. Several tap water rinses get rid of all the debris and a 4 to 1 water/bleach rinse followed by more rinsing until I don't smell the bleach finishes the chemistry part. I spread them on a paper plate (cheapest, flimsiest) and after 2 to 3 days take a credit card size piece of plastic and gently loosen the seeds that are still gently stuck to the plate. 2 more days and into small ziplocks and a coin envelope marked with the variety and the date saved. I don't think I care for the TSP or AJAX or Comet or other scouring cleaners. It's because I just don't like even the "possibility" of damaging the seed coat. Having said that, I DON'T KNOW that the grit WILL damage the seed coat, but until time proves differently, I choose to think the possibility is there. Good tomatoes are hard enough to grow. For me, damaged seed coats would be like starting the race with an unnecessary, self-imposed handicap.

I agree that there is no 1 way of growing tomatoes. I do what gives me the best tasting & largest maters and the most of them at the same time. I'm not saying my way is better than anybody else's. I was happy growing tomatoes that were decent size and fairly productive before I switched to my current methods, but then got to thinking, why not try to increase size & production and get the most from my limited space? So I changed my thinking and methods a bit and that worked the best for me, and haven't gone back. I've replaced, by method changes, 8oz fruits, maybe 15-20 per plant, with 12oz fruits, 40-50 per plant--not by changing the variety but by changing the methods. Even moreso, I've increased lbs per square yard by over 1200%, so I won't go back to the old ways. For those those that think a plant is different than a person, that is true, but both are living things that reproduce, and require nutrition to do so; what happen's when a pregnant mother doesn't eat during pregnancy? I think putting genetics aside, it will affect the size of the baby, just as I feel it would affect the size of tomatoes. Isn't this logical? I don't think I could have made the point any other way. Sometimes, you gotta think outside the box too. Oregon_veg, I wasn't knocking your methods or trying to be offensive or rude. You tried using a vehicle as a comparison, which may be worse than my example. You also said you do all your maintainance beforehand and not on the road... but said "Then it's gas and oil for the rest of the trip." Gas to a vehicle is FOOD. It wouldn't do a thing without it. Please see my original post, about 3 down from Trudi's pics, which was on topic. Four month old plants loaded with fruits and almost looking as nice as day #1 are not normal here. They would have been decimated by disease by now, at least here with all the humidity, or starved by now. And I'm not talking 4-5'' Aunt Gertie's Golds at the end of the season, but 6''. While I'm one of the biggest proponents of "Nitrogen for leaves and shoots. Phosphorus for roots and fruits" I think that there is more to learn about mid-season feedings--how they may affect production as well as plant longevity with indeterminate plants. Maybe I'm on to something.... maybe not... so DON'T try it! DON'T change your current methods! DON'T maximize your production! Notice I also didn't say the word Nitrogen... it would open up a whole 'nother debate regarding NPK #'s, so I'll leave it at just ''feedings'' though the last fertilizer I used here was 15-0-0 (calcium nitrate.) Maybe Fusion will post something on mid-season or season-long feeding, I think here or another forum he said something similar like many people don't fertilize long enough into the season or something. I guess in all 3 of my posts, I gave "just my opinion" however it came out or was interpretted. Mark

Tracey, I LOVE those cupcakes, The Princess and Bruvver would love those. Giada is cooking with kids right now on her show and one of the things she's making is "macaroni and cheese cupcakes", she made the mac and cheese, then let the kids add the veggies of their choice, spoon into a muffin tin, sprinkle with more cheese and bake. I'm going to do that with the grandkids soon. Mine like to make their own pizzas, smearing the sauce and sprinkling the cheese, and they like cracking eggs into anything, measuring ingredients into the bread machine or food processor and Bruvver loves to push the "start" buttons for some reason. He also likes to help put the dishes in the dishwasher and then push the "start" button on that too. If you have a bread machine you could easily direct Beau and Lily to add ingredients and they could make their own bread. Most of all, have fun! Annie